Who you are meant to be
by lindafidelis
Summary: When her mom dies in car accident, Clary receives a mysterious letter turning her life upside down. Will she be able to become who she is meant to be ? In this new world filled of mysteries, secrets, lovers, friends and enemies. Who can she trust when she doesn't know anything about this new world? WARNING : incest / rated M. Long-shot, Complex plot. Cover by Dato Kiknavelidze.
1. Chapter 1 - This end is her beginning

Author's notes :

Hey sweeties, this is my first fanfiction, so don't be too hard :) I would like to thank my two fantastic saviors (lusifergirl45 and ShadowAngel100), or betas call them whatever you want, but to me, they ARE my saviors ! this story would be complete trash without them !

I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : **fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr** (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

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Chapter 1 : This end is her beginning

It's a cold winter evening, through the kitchen window Clary sees that snow is still falling. It had been falling since that morning in large, fluffy flakes and now covered the ground in a thick, white coating bordering on a foot. She had placed a bag of popcorn in the microwave and while she waited, she felt warm and cozy inside. The sound of the popcorn popping in the microwave was incredibly soothing, albeit familiar. Luke must have finally chosen the movie, Clary could hear the opening credits start and then stop, a sign that Luke had paused the movie. She had no doubt that it was a crime investigation movie, they were his favorite. The microwave's beeping takes her out of her frustrating thoughts, wondering how she could draw the snow perfectly with the right amount of white, gray, blue-gray, and cream, and though the task felt impossible, her hands flexed and clenched as if they were searching for her colored pencils.

Sighing, she moves to take the popcorn out of the steaming microwave and waited a moment before opening the equally steamy bag, managing to swipe a piece of the hot popped kernel that was about to fall and popping it into her mouth.

"Hot!" she yelled, spitting the snack into the sink. She laughed and began to divide the popcorn into two bowls, adding salt to one and sugar to the other. How Jocelyn could love salty popcorn while Clary adored the sweet was beyond her. Their differences didn't stop there, it continued to their tastes in food, clothing, even make-up. Despite being so close that people described them as "two peas in a pod". All of the sudden, the doorbell rings.

"Can you get that Clary!?" Luke yells from the living room. "Jocelyn must have forgotten her keys again." I laughed, hearing him sigh from the other room, loud and breathy. Mom had been on the food run tonight, appeasing my need for junk food by agreeing, though it took a lot of convincing, to make the trip to McDonalds.  
"Yeah sure. I am starving, hope the food is still warm." Clary looked at her watch, trying to make out the time behind the splatters of acrylic paint stuck on the watch face that she had yet to scratch off. "She took so long." Clary groaned.

But behind the door, were two police officers, covered with warm clothes, the taller one with brown hair, lowered his tartan scarf that was placed in front of his mouth, and asked "Hello, are you Clary Fray?"  
"Yes, I am... wait a second, was this set up by Simon? I'm not falling for that prank twice." Clary answered with exasperation. "I'm sorry he wasted your time, have a nice night officers." Clary moved to close the door. "Wait! Miss Fray, I am afraid this is not a prank. About thirty minutes ago, you mother had a serious car accident on Flatbush avenue." My stomach dropped.  
"Is she okay? LUKE!" I yelled for the man who was practically my father. I wouldn't make it in this world alone.

The police who had been silent so far stuck his foot in the snow, regret showing on what was visible of his bundled face. Clary was waiting for her mother to pop out yelling "Surprise!" with Simon next to her, but it never happened.  
"Unfortunately, the injuries your mother sustained were very serious and she was pronounced deceased on the scene. She is dead. I'm sorry. " he said with a low-pitched broken voice. He is still talking but Clary can't hear anything, the time has stopped, everything goes in slow motion, the sentence 'she is dead' is resonating in her head, her vision is blurring, her legs weaken, she can feel her knees hitting the floor while she is breathing heavily...

A hand lands on her shoulder suddenly, but Clary hardly feels it.

"Clary? Clary! Are you okay ?" Luke inquired worried. He was practically yelling but it was the only way to get her attention. Luke watched as the tiny redhead's nose and cheeks turned pink from the cold winds blowing at her. She raises her head to look at him, silent tears are running on her cheeks and she opens her mouth to talk but not one sound escapes.

He's helping her to get up when she puts her arms around him and she can hear him say "It's going to be okay Clary, I promise". How can Luke say that? How is she supposed to believe that the one person in her life who she was actually related to is gone? This can't be happening. Her mom is gone. How is she supposed to live without her? It's like a part of her was ripped away, a small hollow is forming in her heart and she knows, she knows deep inside, that it will never be filled again.

The next thing she remembers is Luke carrying her to her bedroom because she can't move. Laying on her bed, she tries to sleep, though it is in vain. All she can do is look at the ceiling which is poorly illuminated by the street lamp that shines through her window. It doesn't feel the same when she looks at it now, the drawing on the ceiling, an oil painting of the New York skyline, she doesn't even know how her mom managed to paint it, but she really had a gift.

An annoying repetitive sound is getting louder and louder, Clary opens her eyes and turns off the alarm, it's 8 am, she has no will to do anything. All she wants to do is lay there forever and that's what she does for a few hours until Luke knocks on her door, to bring her a breakfast tray.

"Take all the time you need but you must eat something Clary, you didn't last night" he said looking worried. She nods silently and takes the tray, there is some pancakes with maple syrup, a small bowl of fruit salad, and a black coffee. She is not hungry but she takes two or three bites of the food and drink the coffee because Luke is watching. He has red eyes and yawed for the third time, he is showing a strong appearance in front of her but he must have cried all night. She is so grateful to have him as a second father, someone she can count on at all time. "Clary, what I am going to tell you might sound odd but a long time ago your mother handed me a letter and told me that if she died before you turned eighteen I had to give it to you, so here…" Luke said looking stressed.

It is the most extraordinary handmade envelope she has ever seen. In each corner Jocelyn drew a _gloriosa superba_ or fire lily like she used to call them. She always told her daughter this flower represented her soul, beautiful and fiery. In the middle, "For clary" was written in the sophisticated font she had always associated with her mother. She turned the envelope, to see it was closed by a family crest wax seal stamp, a really strange one. It was mainly black and white but spotted with red wax. This family crest was very odd to Clary, though she had to admit that she hadn't seen many in the past. It was divided in four, in the top right there was an M and in the bottom left an S, the other two open spaces held falling stars. The crest is surrounded by wings.

She opens it really carefully, the last thing she wants to do is tear it apart. Her hands are getting sweaty and she had yet to realize that she hadn't stopped shaking since the police came by to give her the dreaded news. She immediately recognizes her mother's soft and meticulous handwriting. Looking at it fills her heart with emotions, but which ones she can't put a word to.

 _"Dear Clary_

 _If you get this letter before you turned 18 than it means something awful happened to me. Clary, you mean absolutely everything to me, you're all I care about, I hope you will find the strength in your heart to forgive me for everything I did. I regret leaving you in this dangerous world. Unfortunately I can't protect you forever, it is time for you to learn who you truly are._

 _Sadly, I can't write it here, it's too dangerous. Our family has many enemies. This is the main reason why I had to protect since your birth. You'll find a picture of a women in this envelope, she is a friend and one of the few people that I trust in this world. Her name is Maryse Lightwood, she will tell and teach you everything you need to know to become who you're meant to be._

 _P.S. Luke will help you meet her._

 _Your loving mother"_

"What the hell? Luke! What is the meaning of all of this?! I don't understand" she asked disturbed and frightened...


	2. Chapter 2 - the beginning of her journey

Hey sweeties, thanks for reading my story, I'd like to thank this amazing talented friend **lusifergirl45** for beta-ing me on this story, this is readable because of her ! Seriously, she is an angel from heaven, like I always say, she IS my savior!

I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience , a better vision**. It's here : **fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr** (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on my profil.

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Chapter 2 : The beginning of her journey

It felt like she was living an actual nightmare, trapped in a tornado of questions, left in this world with nothing but lies. She felt empty and could care less about replacing the stoic look upon her face.

"Clary?!" I hear Luke's concerned voice but can't seem to make myself answer. There is a hint of hysteria creeping into his usually stable, deep voice and it just makes me feel worse.

"Can you hear me?! Are you okay?" He says the last question more as a statement. "I think you blacked out after reading the letter. How do you feel?" Luke asked concerned.

"Being "okay" is the last thing I care about right now. This letter... Luke, what is all of this?" My head was spinning with questions. "Why would I even have to forgive Mom, what did she do? And who the hell am I supposed to become? This doesn't make any sense!" she burst out. She appeared to be out of breath, but really it was as if the grief and confusion had collided and taken her breath away. She stumbled her way to the window and aggressively unhooked the rusty hinge, throwing open the old, wooden paneled glass to the brownstone. Fresh winter air burst in, caressing her face and she finally felt she was able to breathe correctly. She took a few moments to get her act together. If she was going to get her answers and be the person her mother expected her to be, she'd need to be strong, even if she felt like a mess on the inside.

"Alright." Clary took one last breath of the cold air before pulling the window back down, though not all the way closed, Luke noticed. Jocelyn does that. Did that, he corrected.

"Alright?" he asked her.

"At this point the only thing I can do is meet this women. Give me fifteen minutes, I'll get ready and meet you downstairs." she said quietly. Luke didn't miss the resolve in her voice, proud of how sure of herself Clary always seemed to be. Jocelyn had once talked to Luke about if anything ever happened to her and waved off Clary, saying that she was the strongest out of all three of them. Luke at the time had silently questioned the statement but now as he watched the 15 year old take the grief and pain in stride, he realized how right she had been.

Luke opened his mouth to talk but he must have changed his mind because he nodded and left the room. She takes her clothes off and throw them on the floor, turns around to look in the mirror and stares silently and momentarily at her birthmarks. Two parallel, thin lines were at the top of her back and despite what everyone said, she hated them. They more look like scars than anything.

She put on a beige turtleneck over the knee-length sweater dress, hoping to stay warm but also not really caring. She needed to look nice to meet this woman. At the last minute she decided on over-the-knee, black velvet stilettos boots, a black beanie with a large pom pom on the top, and her double breasted camel coat. She threw her sketchbook and pencils in her bag at the last second knowing full well she couldn't go anywhere without them. Downstairs Luke was waiting on the couch, his fingers shaking. He seemed distracted by something, but Clary wasn't sure and just pinned it on the grief and sorrow he must be feeling. Though, she had to keep swatting away a creeping suspicion that there was more to the story than just the loss of Jocelyn Fray. As soon as he heard Clary start to descend the stairs, he took a deep breath and stood up to go to the car.

A few minutes later, they crossed the McDonald's that her mother had died driving to, Clary was hit by a wave of sorrow and tears welled in her eyes. Opening the window to look elsewhere was her best option. The sky was full of clouds, a coat of dirty snow covered the road, and people were in their normal hurry and no one took the time to admire the view around them. Clary often felt like her vision of the world was completely different from others, she always saw beauty where it was less expected.

Suddenly, the jeep stops, Clary looks around and glances at Luke with an eyebrow raised, "Are we lost or out of gas?" she asked. Luke smiled and go out of the jeep, turned his head to look at clary.

"You can get out of the jeep, we arrived at our destination" he answered smiling weakly. The jeep was parked in front of a huge gothic cathedral, and Clary had to admit that the facade was outstanding. It had one tower on each side with huge spires and about fifty gargoyles in different forms and shapes. The cathedral was so tall, Clary thought it could reach the gates of heaven or whatever there was up there; religion was something unknown to her.

"Um… is this women religious or something? We are going to meet her in a church? Next time I'm opting for Java Jones" Clary said. Luke smiles at her and they walk together to the cathedral's big wooden doors. Before they reach the last step, the doors open and a middle aged women, with her hair pulled back into a severe bun looks down first at Clary then Luke.

"Hello, who are you ?" Maryse asked intrigued, and her eyes told Clary that she clearly recognized Luke if not both of them. Luke reached something from under his flannel shirt, the pendant of his necklace and revealed it to her. Clary wondered what it was but she couldn't see it from where she was standing.

"By the angel, Lucian Greymark!? It feels like I am seeing a ghost. I can't believe this. Oh no, if you are here than Jocelyn is ..." Luke nodded at her and Maryse paled, and then started crying. Clary was confused by what she called Luke. Lucian Grey what? _And again, more lies_ she thought to herself. The women wiped her tears and looked at Clary for a few minutes like she wanted to memorize each details of their first meeting. Clary wondered if it actually was their first meeting. Nothing she thought was true was actually true anymore.

"Alright then, come in" Maryse said, moving away to let them enter. It was actually the first time Clary had visited a church. The view was more spectacular than she expected, hundreds of wooden benches were placed in the nave. The church was lightly illuminated by the stained glasses, and she couldn't quiet describe it but what she felt was so pure at that moment she wanted to cry, overwhelmed by her emotions.

"Clary, are you coming?" the redhead then realized that she was still standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, give me a second." she said joining them in the side chapel. Maryse sneaked her way behind an angel's statue and disappeared. Clary was astonished by what just happened, "Luke you saw what I saw, right?" she inquired astound.

"Yes Clary, come on, after you." Clary noticed that Luke always took the habit of standing behind her like a bodyguard or a protective father. She understood a little more why as she clumsily managed her way behind the statue and Luke followed closely behind, stabilizing her before she fell from tripping over her own two feet.

Fortunately for Clary, Luke never was too far behind. Clary missed the first step and as she was about to fall, she let out a small scream. Luke grabbed onto her in time and laughed, joking that she had two left feet.

"What the hell? Why didn't they put some bulbs or torches when there is a stone staircase? You know what, whatever, let's go." Clary huffed, tired. Maryse was waiting for them downstairs, Clary couldn't believe what she was seeing: a long and wide corridor with at least hundreds of doors and a smattering of athletic people with tattoos, going here and there, moving as silently and as smoothly as cats. Clary wondered if this was the meeting point of a sect.

"I am going to show you around, if you'll just follow me." Maryse said with a smile. Clary heard the command in her tone though and was slightly confused when Luke looked in another direction. He turned and followed where he was looking but it was too late for Clary to ask him where is was heading. She trusted him with her life so she wasn't worried to be left alone with this unknown women.

As the visit was progressing Clary was more and more fascinated by all the different elements of this place. _How could a place like this be under a religious building?_ Clary thought to herself. However, this only lead her to more questions than answers. The redhead was lost in her thoughts again and Maryse had to clap her hands to get her attention,

"Clary, could you sit on the sofa? We must talk" Maryse requested, closing the door, Clary executed impatiently, needing answers.


	3. Chapter 3 - the incomplete revelation

Thank you to my great and talented savior (beta) **lusifergirl45**

I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience , a better vision**. It's here : **fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr** (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on my profil.

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Chapter 3 : The incomplete revelation

"I am sure you have a lot of questions on your mind." Maryse tells Clary.

 _Duh_ , Clary thinks. She takes the cup of tea that Maryse hands her and sips the warm drink carefully.

"I'll tell you everything but I am asking, first, that you to listen to what I have to say before saying anything. Don't interrupt me." Maryse gives Clary a look that makes Clary feel as though Maryse knows about Clary's habit of interrupting. She blushes as Maryse continues on.

"Once I'm finished, ask me whatever you feel you want to know that I haven't covered." Maryse said tranquilly. She looked into Clary's eyes, and though the tea was the only warm thing in the room, she felt heat spread through her body at this woman's motherly ways. She nodded impatiently while Maryse sat in a wooden chair in front of her and cleared her throat.

"Approximately, one thousand years AD, a human named Jonathan Shadowhunter prayed to the angel Raziel, the keeper of secrets, to save mankind from demons." Clary opened her mouth to ask how this relates to her but shut it as soon as Maryse gave her a look.

"Jonathan asked Raziel to create a race of warriors that would exterminate the world from demons. The angel Raziel accepted his request because Jonathan had pure intentions, and the angel mixed his blood with Jonathan's in a cup, named the Mortal Cup, and Jonathan drunk from it. This turned him into a nephilim, the first of his kind, a combination of Angel and human. Jonathan made other humans drink from the cup which turned them too. All the people you saw walking around here are nephilim, even I am myself a nephilim. The marks you have seen on our bodies are called runes and they grant us many supernatural abilities that help us to do our one true tast: kill demons. Clary, you are one of us."

The redhead is looking at her feet, what have I gotten myself into? She thinks. _This women is clearly crazy, I need to get out of here!_ She thought to herself, already looking at the door.

"Clary, I can see you're skeptic, let me prove to you that I am not lying." Maryse said taking a small knife out of her belt. Clary watched her, a little panicked, and winced at the view of the knife. When Maryse cut the palm of her own hand, Clary let out a small scream of shock.

"Oh god, why did you do that?" Clary blurt out, worried. But Maryse didn't answer, she only took a small metal stick that looked like an old letter opener to Clary and used it to draw a symbol on her wound. And a few seconds later the wound healed magically and her skin was perfect again. Clary watched the entire scene astonished, her world was falling apart, but this revelation sends chills up her spine. She thought of her entire life and it all felt like a pretty lie.

"But why? Why is it only now that I learn all of this?" Clary inquired. Maryse looks nervous like she was still hiding something, unsure of what to answer.

"Well, Clary, you are th-" Maryse stopped and was looking at something behind Clary. The redhead turned around and saw Luke near the door, looking at Maryse, threatening her with a severe stare. Clary then knew something else was being hidden from her, but what?

"Clary could you come here please? I need to talk to you." Luke asked gently, Clary excused herself from Maryse and gave the woman a small smile before walking towards Luke. She saw two suitcases next to him and felt her heart drop.

"I believe Maryse has told you of you were nephilim. I am truly sorry that it was hidden from you your entire life Clary but trust me when I say it was only to protect you. We are going to be living here for some time, it's safer that way. I brought you some clothes and whatnot from home." Luke said giving her one of the suitcases. Clary wondered if she was still trusting him. And then she started to wonder who the hell they were trying so hard to protect her from. She took the suitcase silently and Luke asked a girl who seemed to be Clary's age, to lead Clary, to her new room.

"Clary I have to talk to Maryse for a moment, excuse me." Luke told her and Clary knew he was a little angry at Maryse for what she was going to reveal to her. Clary nodded and followed the girl who led to her room.

"Hey! I'm Isabelle Lightwood but everyone calls me Izzy, I can help you move in if you want!" she said with enthusiasm in her voice. Clary wanted to be alone but then realized she was Maryse's daughter and that if she wanted to discover what was hidden from her, she had to blend in so she answered opposite of how she really felt.

"Yeah I'd like that, thank you. I'm Clary, by the way." Izzy opened her suitcase and showed her where the wardrobe was. After a few minutes, most of her things were in the wardrobe.

Clary checked the suitcase, to see only one item, a dress. Clary held it in her hands, and remembered that a few days ago her mother took her for shopping so she could try some dresses for her sixteenth birthday, an event meant to happen in two weeks. But the dress she was holding, the most beautiful one, was too expensive so she had to put it back. Jocelyn must have bought it secretly for her daughter's happiness, a secret little surprise for Clary. And then that was the last straw. Clary started crying and felt as if she'd never stop. She let all the pain and sadness show. Izzy's first reaction was to run to her and hug her fondly. They stayed like that for some time until Clary had no more tears to shed.

"My mother died yesterday." Clary said with a broken voice.

"I am truly sorry to hear that Clary, which demon was it?" Izzy asked calmly.

"What do you mean by which demon?" Clary responded confused.

"I'm sorry, I assumed she was killed by a demon. Most Shadowhunters die this way. So then how did she die?" Izzy asked.

"My mom had a car accident" Clary said with a shaking voice. Izzy looked at Clary interrogatively, as if she just answered in another language. How is it possible? A Shadowhunter, a fearless warrior being killed by a simple car accident? _That's odd_. Izzy thought to herself. Izzy wiped Clary's tears away and they sat together on Clary's new bed.

"I could stay with you if you want. You're new here and after the loss you sustained you shouldn't be alone. I just have to ask some friends to help me carry my bed and stuff here! I don't know why but they gave you the biggest room of the institute. So the space is not an issue!" Izzy told her friendly. Clary reflected a few minutes, she really needed someone she could trust, she needed a friend so she accepted, despite the obvious intensity of Izzy's bubbly personality.

Clary took off her jacket when a sweet, short melody started to play somewhere in the corridor. Izzy stands up and walks in the door's direction.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Clary asked, panicked.

"Haven't you heard the music? Come on, let's go." Izzy said and turned around to look at Clary, "By the angel" Izzy said shocked, looking at Clary.

"What is-" Clary started to ask but was cut by Izzy holding her arms, inspecting them.

"Clary how old are you ? How come you don't have any runes?" Izzy asked intrigued.

"I am fifteen and I don't have any runes because I only learnt I was a nephilim a half hour ago." Clary responded.

"Woah, that's a first. This is really strange, how come you didn't know ? You must have seen downworlders outside! Like fairies in a park, vampire in a night club, werewolfs near restaurants or even warlocks they're pretty much everywhere and very noticeable." Izzy flipped her long, black curtain of hair over her thin shoulder. Clary felt ugly next to her new friend, short in comparison with little in the matters of a chest and her red hair was curly and just past her shoulders. And on top of that, Clary's world was even more shifting now that she knew all the fiction creatures were actually real.

"What ? Hum... no I haven't see any of what you are talking about." Clary answered. Izzy paused, almost causing Clary to run into her.

"Okay, I think I should tell my mother about this because it's definitely not normal. And the music that played in the corridor it actually mean it's lunch time so we have to go to the common room."


	4. Chapter 4 - Broken glass

Author's notes : I don't know what I would do without her, the one and only **lusifergirl45** (best beta ever)! I am so grateful to have you working with me !

I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience , a better vision**. It's here : **fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr** (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on my profil.

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Chapter 4 : Broken glass

The common room was enormous, with four crystal chandeliers, each hanging over a long dining table with eight smaller tables smattered around the room. The room was full of Shadowhunters, most of them eating, talking and laughing while sitting at the long wooden dining tables. Clary followed Izzy to a small dining table that was placed in the center of the room. Clary felt herself become shy when she saw the Shadowhunters around the room look up and watch her sit down with Izzy. There were five people already eating. Clary immediately recognizes Luke and Maryse, Izzy and her take place at the table.

"Clary, I present you my father, Robert Lightwood." Izzy said pointing to a muscular middle aged man. "And this is my older brother Alec, my younger brother Max and I believe you've already met my mom." Izzy declared. She looked pleased with herself, and Clary wondered if she was the resident tour guide for new Shadowhunters.

The brothers smile at Clary, and welcome her to the institute. Izzy takes the bowl of salad and put some on Clary's plate as well as her own. She repeats the action with the bowl of mash potatoes and then with the plate piled high with fried fish. Clary looks at Izzy pointedly.

"Ask her." She nudges Izzy, who nodded in response.

"Mom, Clary told me she never saw any downworlders." Izzy started, putting a small amount of the potatoes in her mouth before continuing to speak. "How is that possible if she has the sight like all Shadowhunters ?" Izzy asked with an innocent face.

"I can answer to that…" Luke stammers. Clary's green eyes flashed up to meet Luke's face and she felt her heart contract in pain. More Secrets. "When Clary was a baby, Jocelyn asked a some high, powerful warlocks to cast spells on her that would block her powers both of sight and her natural Shadowhunter abilities. Jocelyn was just trying to protect her." Luke replied. It was clear to Clary that Luke felt guilty because he wasn't even speaking to Clary directly, let alone looking at her. He was looking through Izzy, his eyes glazed over and his face paled.

"What!?" Clary screeched. "Are you kidding me? Why the hell would mom even do that? None of this is making sense. And don't you dare tell me it was to protect me, especially if you can't tell me who or what it's protecting me from. Look around! There are so many Shadowhunters and I am sure NONE of them lived a lie their entire life or had their powers blocked! So please, dear Luke, tell me exactly, WHY?" Clary had started shouting without even noticing, but she didn't care. She was surprised, how had she had so much anger built up in her small body? But what could you expect after all the lies and revelations recently.

She was fuming and didn't notice part of her glass start to crack, the lines spider webbing from the point where her mind had caused the crack. In fact, everyone in the room was noticing their cups were doing the same thing. Clary's mind was blocked, but what nobody realized was that the power inside of her could not be contained. It was leaking through the cracks and with her anger at its highest point, she had started scratching a design into the table mindlessly. The quiet dining room erupted suddenly with screams and sounds of popping glass as all the plates, cups, and bowls exploded. Luke and Maryse looked over at Clary, surprised to see an unfamiliar rune scratched into the table and Clary's fingernails ripped and bloody.

Each and every Shadowhunter of the room was watching Clary, but she didn't care. All she wanted, all she needed was an answer from Luke.

"It's alright, we will have the staff clean up the glass! If everyone could retire to their bedrooms, we will alert you all to when a snack is available and the dining room is clean!" Maryse announced.

"Clary, I know you're angry but I can't give you an answer. Not yet." Luke responded apologetically. Clary was furious hearing that. _If Luke was so sorry, he'd just fucking tell me!_ She thinks. Clary storms out of the room and even though Izzy stands up to follow her, she doesn't. Clary hears Maryse tell Izzy that it is probably better to leave her alone for some time.

Clary walks angrily in the corridor looking for her room, but every door looks the same to her. Lost in her thoughts, she bumps into a wall. No, she realized, a person. A really muscular person.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Clary said, embarrassed looking at her feet.

" Well, you should be!" the man answered starring at the top of her head. Clary's anger flared back up.

"Who do you think you-" Clary stopped when she saw his face. He was so beautiful, _as if he was sculpted by Michelangelo himself_ , she thought. When he saw her face, it troubled him. He was such a beauty, she seemed unreal.

"No, no, forgive me, it was my mistake. Though I am glad I made it because I met you." he says with a playful smile. As an answer, Clary blushes and can't help as a giggle escapes. She looks at him and tries to memorize every details she can, to draw him better later. He was wearing a long coat that looked like something her mother would have called a "sherwani". It looked like it was silk, thick but glossy and though it was black, there was a red embroidery that looked exquisite, and expensive. He wore a pair of black leather pants and black leather shoes with the embellished top. _Maybe he's going to a fancy party_ , Clary thought.

"Um… I-, I'm Clary" she stuttered. How could she not? She felt so small next to him. She looked at him expecting him to say his name but when he did not, she asked "And you are?". He looked at her as if he wanted to check if she was joking.

"Wait, you don't know who I am?" he replied curious and intrigued. Clary wondered if it was the beginning of a cheezy pick up line, but saw the cogs turn behind his eyes, as if his brain was just another machine. She had watched an anime series like that one time.

"No, this is the first time I've seen you." she pressed. Clary then supposed that he was maybe working here and that's why he expected her to recognize him. He stared at her a few seconds, like he was trying to understand something.

"Well Clary, hmm…you can call me Chris." he told her smiling. "Tell me, what brings you here?" he asked interested. Clary didn't really know what to answer to that, if she told him the truth, he might run away. Her story was a complicated one and she was sure that had the roles been reversed, she'd have run.

Instead, she simply responded "I am going stay here, to learn more things." She shrugged. Two men wearing a uniform came in their direction, but Chris made them stop simply by waving his hand.

"It was nice meeting Clary, I will surely find a way to see again." he said cockily, "But right now I am afraid duty calls." he said exasperated. She noticed disappointment as he looked at his Rolex and then back at the two men. Clary couldn't help but smile stupidly at him, not finding the right words to make a correct sentence.

"Okay." was the only thing she could mutter out. Chris followed the two men and at the last minute he turned around to wink at Clary. She'd never blushed that hard in her entire life.

A little while later, Clary finally found her room. Happy to at least find her bedroom, she sprawled out on her bed. She hadn't realized how tired she was, but knew she needed sleep soon. She allowed herself to plunge into the darkness of sleep.

Clary woke up screaming. Izzy stood up from the sofa and sat next to her.

"Nightmare?" Izzy asked, wide awake.

"Yeah… about my mom's accident. I wish I could feel nothing, it just hurts so much." Clary answered quietly. She was a little surprised that she could talk so easily about how she felt to Izzy. Simon was the only one she confided in.

"I am sorry to hear that. This kind of pain only heals with time but I can ask our healer to make you some potion to help you sleep." Izzy told her sweetly

"Yeah, thanks Izzy." Clary said to her new friend.

"You know, I was shocked too. When Luke said your powers had been blocked. After you left, Luke said he was going to contact all the warlocks that cast the spell on you to try and get them to take it off and he thinks they'll come tomorrow. I know it's not my business and all, but I feel like it's not Luke's fault. He wasn't even in New York yet, Mom said. You shouldn't be too hard with him." Clary recalled that she went berserk on him, and felt guilt filling her body.

"I know, I feel awful about it now, I'll talk to him at the first occasion. I probably should apologize to Maryse about the dishes as well. What time is it by the way? I am kinda of hungry." Clary spoke while her stomach was growling.

"You ate nothing at lunch so I am not surprised. Its 7:55 pm. Actually, the melody should play in any minute, so come on let's go to the common room" Izzy said standing up. "Wait, I want to change first." Clary said as she started to take her boots off. She had fallen asleep fully clothed. Opening her wardrobe, Clary takes the first comfortable things she sees: black leggings, a gray over-sized sweatshirt and her favorite fuzzy black bear paw slippers, a gift from her best friend.

Izzy laughed when she saw them and Clary gave her a friendly threatening glare, despite not caring about what others thought of her style. Izzy leaves the room to give her some privacy, because they only met a few hours ago and she felt like Clary wasn't completely comfortable with her body. Clary joined her five minutes later, with a messy bun. Izzy told her she looked like an artist with this hairstyle, Clary ran to the room and came back with her sketchbook and a pencil, Izzy looked at her oddly and laughed.

Clary and Izzy sat in one of the small dining tables and ate french fries with lasagna. Clary noticed that something was carved in some part of the wooden table.

"What does that say?" she inquired, pointing the table.

" _Facilis descensus averni_. It means the descent to hell is easy, then here" she said pointing to another sentence " _Si vis pacem, para bellum_ it means if you want peace, prepare for the war. This is _Amor vincit omnia_ , meaning love conquers all. And then _oderint dum metuant_ , which means _let them hate so long as they fear_ _._ _And_ -" Clary interrupted Izzy "hell, war, conquer, fear."

"Why couldn't they just carve some unicorns?" Clary said with sarcasm. Izzy rolls her eyes and eats her food than she notices on her Clary's watch that it's almost 9pm. She also noticed how dirty and old it was and made a mental note to buy the girl a new one.

"Clary hurry up, we have to go somewhere, I've got a small surprise." Izzy said excitedly.


	5. Chapter 5 - De laspsis and Camphbilim

Author's notes : First I want to apologize for updating so tardily, the holiday ended and I am going back to school :( and thank you all for following, reviewing this fanfic (or putting it in your favs). It means a lot to me ! And again this wouldn't be possible without my favorite beta in the world : **lusifergirl45** (she is such a talented sweetie, I don't what I woud do without her ! Review to tell how you feel about the plot :)

And don't forget that I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

* * *

Chapter 5 : The De Lapsis and The Camphbilim

Clary follows Izzy down the corridor for a few minutes before Izzy stops in front of two big wooden doors. She looks at Clary and smiles sweetly. .  
"So what's the surprise? I think you should know by now that I don't usually like surprises..."Clary trailed off quietly.  
"Just trust me with this one!" Izzy begs, pulling half heartedly on Clary's arm. "After what happened today I thought it would be good to do something to distract you." Izzy told her. Clary rolled her eyes as Izzy opened the doors, but followed the willowy, tall girl anyway.

Clary had no words to describe the beauty of what she was seeing. A circular library stood in front of her and she couldn't see any bit of wall, only oak shelves with too many books to fit correctly and an immense chandelier that was hanging down from the middle of it, illuminating each and every part of the library. But Clary realized, the library wasn't her surprise.

A group of Shadowhunters of all ages were gathered in the center of the room, sitting on pillows on the ground around one person in the middle sitting on a green velvet armchair. It was Robert Lightwood holding some books on his lap while waiting for more people to come, he looked at his watch one last time and said "We start in five minutes". Izzy took Clary's hand and led her to the center where they both sat on one big cotton pillow. Some Shadowhunters had come in at the last minute and then Robert said "Alright, then we shall begin".

Clary didn't know how to feel about this, Izzy brought her to the library to hear a father tell a story. Izzy's father. Why would Izzy have to join this many people to hear her own father tell some story? The last time Clary did that, her mother was telling the story to her, Simon, and Luke when they were camping in the Cove. They all loved the way Jocelyn told stories. She often used different voices and noises to make them feel like they were all living the story. Clary is roused from her thoughts when she hears Robert unlocking the biggest, oldest leather book Clary had ever seen. She also noticed how decorated the book was and thought it could be a myths & legends book.

"Well that's going to be fun." she murmured sarcastically.

"Nearly 1000 BC, Lucifer rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, doomed to spend his eternal life in hell to punish the damned souls. After years of torturing souls, Lucifer felt lonely and empty so he decided it was time for him to have someone to share this eternal condemnation with. He killed every last one of the rebel angels that followed him to earth before cutting himself open to take a small part of his heart. He used his remaining angel grace to merge the dead angels and the fragment of his heart into one and only body, Lilith. Killing angels was such a desecration the ritual turned Lilith, the new bride of Lucifer, into the first demon ever created. She was able to create demons herself, but they didn't have a human appearance like her, they came in a large variety of species and forms with a monstrous appearance.

Lucifer and Lilith's love only grew stronger when she got pregnant. They decided to create a home for this unborn child and so they built an enormous and splendid city with monuments of their greatness and at the center of the city there was a massive royal castle. This was to be their new residence. They called this new home The _Antiquus Purgatorium_.  
But when Lilith started showing, Lucifer fully realized he was going to be a father. The hatred for his own father, the very man who had banished him from his own home, made his thirst for revenge even more powerful. He needed to appease his revenge to start a new life. For her lover, Lilith created a massive army of furious and ruthless demons that was to use to wage war against heaven. Following umpteen disastrous casualties, Lucifer won and conquered heaven. Now, Lucifer and Lilith ruled over The _Antiquus Purgatorium_ , Heaven, Hell and Earth and called them the four kingdoms.

Lilith struggled during labor and almost died but Lucifer used his powers to save her. She gave birth to opposite sex twins, they were the children of an archangel and the mother of demons consequently the parents noticed their children had new and undiscovered abilities to this world. As the time passed, Lucifer studied their abilities and held a diary in which he wrote everything he discovered about them.

The first thing he noticed when they were children was their super strength and extremely developed senses, then as teenagers they could appear in people's dreams if they wanted. Lucifer called this the dream walking. When they felt intense emotions the weather would react to their feelings, and Lucifer called this weather manipulation. These four abilities were apparent in both children, but strangely they each had one ability the other didn't. The girl was able to pitch a piercing scream. It was an offensive weapon, a strong sound wave capable of throwing people and objects around. And the boy could make his opponent dizzy for a few minutes just using his eyes. Lucifer called it the stare of Nachash. The only issue, in Lucifer's mind, was that these two abilities could only be activated if they were in great danger or if they feared for their life.

Lucifer was proud to have created a completely new race, the fruit of a forbidden union-the birth of one part angel and part demon. Lucifer decided to call this new race the _De Lapsis_ as a reminder that they were his. He saw the potential the _De Lapsis_ had, knew that what they could achieve with those powers would be incredible and they could only be stronger together. Their powers were too precious to be lost by inbreeding with any other races." Robert paused to take a breath and lick his lips, and Clary noticed she herself had been holding her breath and waiting. There was an odd feeling somewhere deep inside that was stirring, telling Clary she needed to really listen to the story, that it was important to her life.

"Lilith gave me twins for a reason." Lucifer once said. They were meant to be together and so we shall marry them to one another. They will make more _De Lapsis_ and their children after that." Lucifer commanded.

Lucifer and Lilith married their children together to keep the bloodline pure in order to keep their special powers. Lucifer wanted his entire lineage to be as powerful as his children.

More than a decade later, Lucifer and Lilith decided it was time for them to leave this dimension, they were immortal beings and if they wanted their children to start to rule over the four kingdoms, it was their best option.

The years of heavy inbreeding- marrying brother to sister whenever possible-in order to preserve the powers that made them the _De Lapsis_ lead some of them to become entirely wicked or completely virtuous albeit most of the time they were both.

Around 1000 AD, what remained of the De Lapsis was one family: parents, three sons, and one daughter. Naturally, the three brothers had to share their sister and do a polygamous marriage, however the youngest brother was the most vicious and wicked one. He was too jealous and possessive in general and when it came to sharing the sister, his behavior only worsened. He decided to poison his two brothers. Though he managed to poison the brothers, the parents imbibed the poison too and died instantly." Robert paused again, taking a sip of his tea.

Clary started to wring out her hands, uncomfortably cold from the inside out as she waited to hear the rest of the story. If there were this many people listening, it meant that this story was rarely told and therefore Clary knew that there was a reason Robert was telling it tonight. It was because of her.

"As soon as the sister discovered her brother's spiteful act, she burst into tears. Between the betrayal she felt from her youngest brother and the loss of her parents and lovers, she only felt grief and the darkness of depression. She lost control of herself and one of her powers was activated spontaneously. The weather manipulation, in this case. The wind began to blow harder while above, the sky was getting darker as claps of thunder were deafening those below. When she reached the highest point of power, she looked at her brother, the familicide, and threw her arm in his direction. Instantly,her brother was struck by vigorous lightning multiple times until his body turned more and more first into something amorphous and then turned into ashes. She was now queen of the four kingdoms, the last of her kind; the last _De Lapsis_.

So when she heard rumors that a mortal named Jonathan called upon the archangel Raziel to create a new race, warriors who would protect humans from demons, she was determined to wed this Jonathan if he was real, she had to do everything she could to save the De Lapsis race, her dynasty." Clary heard the rain start outside the Institute and it made her shiver. Izzy looked at Clary quizzically but stayed silent, listening to her father's grave voice tell the story.

"When the daughter met Jonathan, they both felt a strong connection and they wedded soon after. This marriage changed the four kingdoms into five, because Jonathan had the Idris kingdom.

Fortunately their children had not lost the _De Lapsis_ powers, and moreover, they inherited new powers from their father Jonathan Shadowhunter, for Raziel's blood that ran through his veins. Their children were now also able to create new runes, press physical objects into paper, and had a high tolerance to pain. They were _nephilims_ , warriors- like their father. Their mother thought it was the end of the _De Lapsis_ but the _De Lapsis_ had re-emerged only to be more powerful. They were now called the _Camphbilim_. Following 1000 years of inbreeding, this new race, the _Camphbilim_ , still rules over the 5 kingdoms today." Robert finished with a warm and quiet voice.

Clary looks at Izzy with an interrogative face and decides to ask the tall girl a question that she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to.

"Hey Izzy? Why are there so many adults listening to this legend? I mean, I understand why the children or even teenagers would like to listen to this fairytale, but adults?" Clary questions intrigued. Izzy laughs before answering.

"Well this isn't just a story time, this is a tradition. Once a month an elder must read our History to the nephilims as a reminder of we are and who the royals are."

"You mean like the story was actually true? And those camph- _camphbilim_ or whatever are ruling over us?" Clary inquires dumbfounded. Izzy puts her hand on Clary's shoulder and nods silently at the stupefied redhead.

" _Well_ " Clary thought. " _I guess I'm not that special after all."_


	6. Chapter 6 - The five tapestries

Thank you so much everyone for reading, following, revewing this story, it means so much to me, you have no idea ! **lusifergirl45** is my everything, this would be such a crap without her ! Please check out her stories too. I will try to update weekly.

Don't forget that I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

* * *

Chapter 6 : The 5 tapestries

As Clary stands up, something falls from her lap. She notices it was her sketch book and that she had started drawing without even giving attention. Izzy picks it up and looks at the latest drawing. They were many small drawings throughout the page, all illustrating the story Robert just told. The first was of a couple, side by side with an army of demons behind them ready to conquer heaven. The next of an extraordinary city Izzy thought it could only be _The Antiquus Purgatorium_. A pair of eyes followed, but they had some uncommon iris and it felt as if they were shuddering. Izzy guessed it was the stare of Nachash. Before she could look anymore, Clary ripped her sketch book from Izzy's hands with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I just don't really like to show my drawings. They're not that good anyway." she said with an embarrassed voice.

"Are you kidding me Clary? Your drawings are beautiful, you've got to teach me how to do that!" Izzy said with a big smile and Clary sent her a small smile back.

"Izzy come here! Help me to clean this up." Robert directed. Izzy rolled her eyes, wondering what mess her father had gotten into this time.

"Hey, uh Clary. You know the way back to our room right?" Izzy asked with doubts in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about me, you can go." Clary responded, trying to be as convincing as possible. Izzy gave her a small, playful look and went in her father's direction, but after a few steps she stopped and turned back to look at Clary.

"I asked our healer to put the sleeping potion in your room, on the nightstand. Get some rest and don't forget that tomorrow the warlocks are coming to take off the spell." Izzy said with a warm tone and left.

Clary walks down the corridor to find her room and suddenly she stops remembering what Izzy just told her. Clary had completely forgotten about the warlocks, and she felt a tightness in her stomach. She had no idea what they were going to do to her in order to take off the spell. She felt the need to get out of this long empty corridor, so she looked around frantically. She saw a familiar arched doorway made from the same original stone that the oldest parts of the Institute still had and noticed that there were ruins carved into the stone.

" _Go in there_ " a voice in her head told her. So she did.

Behind the door was a stone staircase and she recalled this was the way she got into the Institute in the first place. One step after another, she reached the top, and managed her way behind the angel's statue, struggling to fit and to breath.

Once out of there, she took the time to actually look at the 6 foot tall statue. The angel had a sharp and gorgeous face, his left hand pointing the sky while the right hand was pointing the ground. He had flamboyant, immaculate wings and when Clary bent down to read the inscription in the bottom of the statue, she found it and read quietely " _Quod angelus lux ferre._ "

" _It must be Latin._ " she thinks.

"It means the angel Lucifer" said a low-pitched voice behind her. Clary turned around and instantly blushed seeing Chris standing less than a foot away from her. He smiled seeing her cheeks turn red, and she suddenly hated herself for not being able to control the way her body reacted to his presence.

"How did you know I couldn't read Latin ?" Clary asked curious.

"I actually heard you read it, you have a beautiful voice..." Clary looked at her feet knowing she had turned crimson "but the pronunciation wasn't accurate." he answered with a little smile.

"Yeah I haven't learned Latin at all." Clary said embarrassed. She felt stupid for a moment before she remembered that this world of the Shadowhunters was completely new to her and she shouldn't compare herself to those who had the privilege to grow up in it.

"Strange, I thought Latin was the Shadowhunter's second language. You know what? It doesn't matter, tell me what a magnificent girl like you is doing in front of a statue at 10 o'clock?"Chris asked with curiosity and interest.

"Well,Chris, I was heading to my room but I kinda felt the need to get out of that place, so I just took a different turn. I needed to think for a little. So here I am." Clary shrugged innocently.

"If you don't have any plans, would you give me the honor of keeping me company?" Chris inquired with hope in his voice. Clary was actually surprised at this question. How could someone like him would want to spend time with a girl like her?

She looked down at her black leggings, gray over-sized sweatshirt and her fuzzy black bear paw slippers and felt a little ridiculous next to him.

"Hmm... Yeah I guess." Clary said with a smug smile. She was a little nervous but wanted to appear confidant. Chris held out his arm for her and Clary took it, following him down to a small room in the nave which was lit by about forty thin, white candles placed in black holders. A strong scent of dust, wax and old wood was reigning in the room and made Clary wrinkle her nose. Four Renaissance tapestries were fixed on each walls. Clary released Chris' arm and sat on the nearest wooden bench while Chris took a candle from a cardboard box, lit it, and put it in on the holders.

"I come here pretty often, it's my favorite place, actually. I like to light candles and then sit on the bench to look at the ancient handmade tapestries. Once I stayed here for four hours non-stop without noticing. I tend to lose the notion of time here." Chris told Clary turning around and sitting next to her. She stared in awe at the tapestries, wondering how many people it took to weave them and watched as the candlelight danced off of the fabric. _Chris was right_ , she thought. _She could be here for hours without even noticing._

After a few moments, Clary started to try to figure out what the illustration on the tapestry was. She saw towers, houses, and a big hall, so she thought maybe it was a city.

"What is this place exactly?" the redhead asked. Chris immediately turned to look at Clary with a puzzled expression.

"This is Alicante, the capital of Idris. How could not know that?" Clary felt her cheeks redden out of embarrassment. "Each and every shadowhunters can recognize Idris from a very early age." Chris spoke looking at Clary's expression and he noticed that she looked embarrassed at his words.

"Clary, who are you exactly? I know we only met today but you can tell me anything really, I _am_ a trustworthy person." Chris stated with goodwill and interest in his voice. Clary closed her eyes and took a long breath before speaking. She felt like she _could_ tell him anything, so she did.

"Well, my mother passed away yesterday..." Clary made a huge effort to pronounce this sentence. _How could that have only been yesterday?_ "And today, well, this morning actually, I learnt that I was a Shadowhunter but my powers are blocked because of a spell. Ohh, and some warlocks are coming tomorrow to take off the spell." Clary's words tumbled out with panic evident in her words, realizing suddenly what a mess her life had become. She felt weak suddenly. Her heart had begun racing and drops of sweat poured down her face as her her breathing started to become heavy.

"Hey, Clary, look at me. It's going to be okay, alright? Try to relax." he said confidently and took her hands in his. "Breath in, breath out. Come on, do it with me." he repeated. After a minute, Clary felt normal again. "Was that the first time ?" Chris asked.

"First time...?" Clary answered slowly.

"That you have a panic attack" Chris inquired worried.

"Umm, I think I had one when I learnt my mother died." Clary said with difficulty. She had words she wanted to say spinning around in her mind but she didn't have the energy to speak them, especially to Chris whom she had just met. Chris caressed Clary's back and stood up to stand next to the tapestry in front of them.

"Like I said, this is Alicante, the capital of Idris. Idris is the Shadowhunter's home country, the 5th kingdom." he said. Then he took a few steps to his right to stand next to the other tapestry. "This is the 4th kingdom, earth, the land of the downworlders and mundanes." he declared before heading to another wall. "This is my favorite one, the 2nd kingdom, _the Antiquus Purgatorium_ , the ancestral seat of the royal family, the most beautiful city ever created." Chris said with awe in his voice and walked to the last wall. Clary felt excitement, recognizing _the Antiquus Purgatorium_ from the story that Robert had told. "This is hell, the 1rst kingdom, where the damned souls go."Chris told, walking back to her and seating close to her.

"Wait I thought they were five kingdoms " Clary asked curiously, drinking each and every word Chris spoke.

"Look up, Clary" he replied, and they did synchronously, Clary let out a small scream of surprise. An immense tapestry was hooked into the ceiling. "I present to you, the 3rd kingdom, heaven, the angel's foyer." Chris recited.

They observed the tapestries quietly together, observing every single centimeters of the ancient and precious masterpieces,that is until Chris' phone rang.

"Allo. Yeah. Wait what? What time is it?" Chris asked a little panicked to the voice at the other side of the phone. " _Oh lux ferre_! I'm on my way." Chris said and hung up. Sighing heavily Chris opened his mouth to tell Clary it was already past midnight and there was somewhere he was supposed to be.

Clary smiled at his unhappy facial expression because she could tell he didn't want to leave. Chris was heading to the door but stopped and turned around.

"I don't usually do this but... could I have your number Clary? it's absolutely fine if you don't want me to." Chris asked, expecting her answer. Clary only took out her phone as an answer handed it to him. He entered his phone number into her cell and she smirked at him.

"If you're lucky, I'll text you." Chris looked saddened but lit up when his phone received a text message from an unknown number. _Hey, it's Clary_ it said. Chris' face lit up.

Clary was now grinning stupidly, thinking of what she just did, it actually was the first time she ever gave her number to a guy and it felt exhilarating, especially since she kind of liked Chris.

Clary remembered what he told her,that it was past midnight, and she rushed her way back to her room still struggling to find it. When she did finally bust her own door open, a worried Izzy was waiting for her.

"By the angel Raziel, where were you Clary ? I was so worried! First I thought you got lost but then after one hour, I figured you decided to run away!" Izzy blurted out, catching her breath. The poor girl was close to sobbing.

"Ohh, I am so sorry Izzy, I was just upstairs, in the church." Clary said with guilt in her voice.

"But what were you doing up there ?" Izzy inquired, intrigued.

"I was actually with a friend..." Clary told Izzy with a smile creeping her face. Izzy immediately understood what kind of "friend" she was talking about.

"A friend huh? More like a boyfriend isn't it?" Izzy said teasingly and the redhead blushed at her questions. Clary walked to the nightstand and drank the sleeping potion.

"I've to sleep, Izzy. Tomorrow is a big day." Clary replied smiling at her smart move not to talk about Chris. Izzy threw a pillow at her and told her she won't give up that easily. She would find a way to get the truth out of her. They both lay down in their beds. Clary's real bed and Izzy's worn mattress set up on the floor, and closed their eyes as the darkness of the night took over the room.


	7. Chapter 7 - The painful ritual

I truly don't know what I would do without her, **lusifergirl45** , just represents everything to me, she's just so kind, talented, attentive and sweet. She's a fantastic friend and she deserves all the love in this world. I am so grateful to have her, I'll never let her go !

Don't forget that I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

* * *

Chapter 7 : The painful ritual

Clary opened her eyes lazily, waking softly from her sleep. Someone came out of the bathroom only wearing a towel and left drops of water on the floor while drying their hair. Long black damp hair, Clary realized. _Izzy._

"Good, you're finally awake. I finished using the bathroom, you can use it now. We are having breakfast in a hour though so hurry up!" Izzy said, going to the wardrobe, letting the towel which was covering her, hit the floor. Clary immediately looked in the other direction, a little surprised by what just happened. _Did she forget I was still in the room? Or maybe she just doesn't care. Understandable, I wouldn't if I had a body like hers._ Clary thought to herself. She hated how they were the same age but Izzy looked more like a woman while Clary herself still looked like a little girl.

Clary got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, only to open the bathroom door to be hit by a wave of steam. _How much hot water did Izzy use?_ Clary wondered, mind blown by the temperature of the room. She could feel sweat forming under her clothes. The redhead wiped condensation from the mirror, and looked at her reflection, surprised when she sees a rested and relaxed face. The sleeping potion must have worked.

She undresses hastily, realizing she had fallen asleep in her clothes last night. She moves to take off her gray sweatshirt, black leggings and paw slippers and observes her naked body. She rotates a little to be able to look at them, her birthmarks, two parallel thin lines at the top of her back. She hated them so much and had always wanted to get a tattoo to hide them. Maybe she would be able to put a rune on them.

Clary turned around, stepped in the shower, and turned on the water. She struggled a little to get the right temperature. Finally, the warm water was running down her small frame and relaxing her. She forgot all about her fears regarding the ritual and after about ten minutes used some of the shampoo that Izzy had left in her shower, one with a strong scent of vanilla and spices. She wondered if Izzy was ever going to go back to her own bedroom and chuckled to herself as she massaged her scalp with the fragrant shampoo the way that her mother taught her.

Clary rinsed the foam from her hair before lathering her soaked curls with a conditioner of the same scent and then lathering her loofa with a shower gel that smells like almond and vanilla to wash the rest of her body. Clary stayed in the shower for at least forty minutes before drying herself off with the only large towel available. She wrapped the towel around her and went to the wardrobe, ready to put on the first things she can reach but is stopped by Izzy.

"Whilst you were in the shower my mom came and told me you had to wear a white dress for the ritual, if you don't have one, pick one of mine" Izzy said smiling. Clary felt her nerves come back stronger than before and turned to look at her limited clothing selection in the wardrobe.

"Alright." Clary sighed, rolling her eyes. "What do you have for me?" she asked. Izzy left for a few minutes and then came back with about a dozen white dresses.

"Knock yourself out." Izzy told her, laying them on the bed. Clary moved forward to have a better look and was startled by most of the short and extravagant dresses. Clary chose the most reasonable one, a draped and long white dress. It was so fluid in her hands it felt like water.

"Great choice. I never had the opportunity to wear it actually. Weirdly enough, my mom gave it to me yesterday night. What a funny coincidence huh?" Izzy waggled her eyebrows.

"Should I take a different one? I mean you never wore it... and it's your mom's gift..." Clary trailed off, intrigued.

"Even if I tried, it would never fit because of my chest." Izzy said, going to the wardrobe to take a medium jewelry box out. She handed it to an unsure Clary, who was still focused on Izzy's chest statement.

"Thanks Izzy but I'm not really into jewelry." Clary told her friend with an awkward smile.

"Oh come on Clary! Just for today? Please!" Izzy demanded, practically begging. Impatient to get an answer she liked, Izzy kept pressing. "What about just simple, classic earrings and a necklace? Trust me, no one will notice if that's what you're worried about." Izzy told her. She opened the box to show her the contents.

Clary finally agreed, knowing she had no choice but to accept Izzy's offer. Clary selected white pearl earrings and a simple gold chain with a small pendant that held angel wings. Izzy looked at the redhead, surprised and puzzled. She actually chose the two most expensive pieces of jewelry she had; natural white pearls from the Bahrain seas and a 24 karat chain with benitoite and taaffeite stones inlaid into the angel wings pendant.

"I must admit you have elegant taste." Izzy stated, impressed. After a few minutes in the bathroom, Clary was finally ready and followed Izzy to the Great Hall.

As soon as Izzy opened the doors, a spicy and exotic smell tickled Clary's nostrils. She started coughing uncontrollably and had to cover her nose in order to not inhale too much of this outlandish smell.

"What's that smell?" Clary asked Izzy, who was laughing at her reaction. Clary blushed, first from embarrassment but then from a flash of anger, one that confused her.

"It's the smell of burnt juniper branches." Izzy managed between giggles. "It's used to purify a place before a ritual." Izzy's words sounded rehearsed, as if she had learned the information by heart. Clary suddenly realized what was happening. Her, a simple girl, was going to be turned into a nephilim.

"Don't be scared by the creatures we are about to meet." Izzy told Clary over her shoulder. "They are called warlocks, immortal beings, each have a demon mark, or a part of their body which is unique. You'll understand what I am talking about when you see them, trust me." Izzy said while they entered the Great Hall. The Hall itself was completely redone. All the wooden tables and chairs were placed in a corner of the room and a bunch of people dressed in a motley way were gathered in the center of the room around a big object Clary couldn't see. Izzy's mother saw them and stood, moving in their direction.

"Ah!" she said with a forced smile. "Here you are! Well, you have chosen the right dress, it fits you perfectly!" Maryse clapped her hands. "Clary, I must introduce you to the people who will be doing the ritual." Maryse said, pointing at the warlocks. Clary nodded, and then followed Maryse to the center of the room with Izzy by her side. All the warlocks turned to look at Clary. The girl let out a small scream of surprise seeing their unique body parts. One had horns, another had a tiger's tail and it went on and on for the other eight warlocks. Demon eyes, claws, even spikes for hair.

"Forgive her, it's the first time she actually has seen a warlock." Izzy told some of the warlocks, specifically those who looked scandalized by Clary's small scream.

"Everyone this is Clary." Maryse told the various warlocks while presenting Clary with her hand. "And Clary, this is Ragnor Fell, Magnus Bane, Malcolm Fade, Aldous Nix, Lulach Dell, Sweyn Fox, Haakon Tyne, Fédor Alzo, Eupraxia Syto and finally Wilhelm Wyot." Maryse told Clary, pointing at each one of them while saying their names. "They are the 10 oldest, most powerful warlocks in the world, it's the second time in history that they are all gathered in the same room."

"When was the first time then ?" Clary asked intrigued.

"Well sweet pie, that would be 15 years ago, when we were hired by your beautiful and kind mother, to block you powers when you were a baby." said Magnus Bane with heart warming smile. Clary couldn't tell if she was truly detecting small hints of sarcasm or not.

"Darling would you follow me please? We shall start the ritual. Don't be afraid...we'll do most of the work." Ragnor Fell said, handing out his arm for Clary to take. When she did, they walked together to an imposing golden altar placed a few feet from the center of the room. "Lay down on the _auro altare,_ the golden altar if you prefer and yes this is entirely made of gold." Ragnor told Clary when he saw her opening her mouth to say something. He helped her climb on the 4 feet tall golden altar. "This ritual is composed of 4 phases, all linked to the 4 elements ; earth, fire, air and water. It's the most powerful spell to ever be and we don't know for sure what might happen, Clary. When we blocked your powers, it was meant to last for 18 years, though here we are 3 years earlier... I need you to do exactly what we say, and don't forget that no matter what happens we can't stop the ritual. It could cost your life, Clary, if we did have to stop. Do you understand?" Ragnor asked. Clary, who looked more and more nervous, nodded. Her throat was so dry she wasn't sure she could talk.

All the warlocks encircled Clary.

"We're ready, bring the cow." Malcolm Fade ordered looking at Maryse. She did a movement with her hand, and two shadowhunters came in with a cow. Clary looked dumbstruck. _What the hell are they going to do to this cow?_ She thought to herself.

Aldous Nix took out a crescent, moon-shaped knife from her coat. It was a curved blade about two and a half feet long. Lulach Dell brought the cow closer to the altar and Aldous slit the cow's throat in one precise movement. Blood splattered Clary's face and she screamed in shock, witnessing the terrible scene. Clary was about to stand up to get away from there but remembered what Ragnor told her, so she swallowed her saliva and held firmly the edges of the altar to prevent her from leaving.

Sweyn Fox did a few movements with his hands and green sparks escaped his fingers as the cow was being levitated above Clary. Even more blood was dropping on her, making her squirm ever so slightly in her seat. Aldous threw his blade in the air with a specific wrist movement and it opened the cow's stomach in two. Clary and the altar were hit by a vast puddle of blood, Clary stood up reflexively to catch her breath, she looked at her arms, her dress, her hair, they were red, entirely covered in blood. She always hated the smell of blood and started coughing, thinking she looked like a scene from Carrie or some other horror movie. Magnus Bane approached her and asked her gently if she was okay. One word escaped her trembling lips, one dry and unsure yes. He looked skeptic but asked her to lay down again on the altar. After taking a deep breath filled with the scent of blood, she shakily moved to climb back up onto the altar.

" _Pedes in terra ad sidera visus_ (Feet on the ground at the sight of the stars). _Pulvis et umbra sumus_ (We are dust and shadow)." The 10 warlocks repeated three times synchronously with a strange old accent. Clary's own blood was starting to boil under her skin, she immediately thought it was a side effect of the ritual so she said nothing as sweat was pouring out of her pores.

"Clary we finished the first phase, we shall begin the second one, remember that it can't hurt you, we are here with you." Magnus Bane said looking at Haakon Tyne as he opened a portal. A huge, hideous flying creature came out of it, and monstrous noises exited the creature. Fedor Alzo did some circular movements and held the creature still with his powers. He moved the creature to put it in front of Clary. Clary was frightened but she knew it was paralyzed by Fedor's powers, though she wasn't reassured at all.

"You must kill it now, aim for the throat."Aldous Nix said, handing his knife to Clary. She breathed harder as she stood up, raised her hand which held the knife. As she was in the process of throwing her arm in the demon's direction, the warlocks repeated three times synchronously in the same language " _Ferro ignique_ (by iron and fire), _Igne natura renovatur integra_ (through fire nature is reborn whole)", while she was killing the demon. The creature disappeared in the thin air, leaving a scent of sulfur and dust of black ashes.

"Clary, follow us to the center of the room, the third phase shall begin." Magnus said pointing at where she had to stand. They followed and encircled her again but this time they were holding their hands. Eupraxia Syto looked at Maryse and she left the room only to come back with a small metallic box. There were runes carved into the metal, and Eupraxia took the box into her hands with a disappointed look. She put the box on the floor, and the warlocks moved their fingers at the same time. Visually, Clary thought it seemed like fireworks were filling the room; red, green, purple, blue, pink, orange, yellow, brown, gray and beige sparkles came out of their fingers. The top of the box exploded in thousands of pieces and the box's content was visible. Eupraxia took two white, soft, and shining feathers out of the box. She held them carefully and gave them to Clary.

"Those are the only angel feathers the institutes possess in the world. Hold one in each hand, whatever happens do not let them go Clary!" Eupraxia commanded. The girl was covered in blood from head to toe. Clary was astonished. She couldn't believe it, she was actually holding freaking angel feathers and they were the softest things she had ever touched. She closed her hands in fists, imprisoning the feathers.

" _Aer pennae._ (The smell of a feather) _Alis grave nil._ (Nothing is heavy to those who have wings) " The warlocks repeated three times. Something happened in Clary's fists, she could feel it.

"Open your hands" Wilhem Wyot told the confused girl, she did and saw white sparkling powder instead of the feathers. A small scream of shock escaped Maryse's lips. Wilhem took the powder and threw it at Clary in a swift movement. As the white powder came in contact with her, a dark smoke escaped her body on the opposite side. An awful pain filled her body and cracking sounds could be heard. Some of her bones were cracking and Clary started screaming in pain and struggled to sit still.

"Ahh my back, my legs! What's happening! It hurts so much" Clary shouted at the warlocks. The pain was unbearable.

"Hold on sweetie, it's almost over." Magnus said, trying to comfort the poor girl. He then moved his hands and made a bathtub appear next to her. "Pumpkin, this is going to hurt, but it's the last phase, you must enter this bath tub filled with Lake Lynn's water, albeit you can't drink it." Magnus told Clary. She looked like she was about to faint because of the pain. As she was entering the tub, they all recited three times :" _Qui te regeneravit ex aqua_ (the one who regenerated you with water), _in aqua sanitas_ (in water there is health)". Clary never felt that much pain in her life. It was a real torture. Wilhem put his hands on Clary's shoulders and forced her to be dunked under the water. It turned red because of the blood that was covering Clary. She pushed Wilhem's hands away to emerge from the water to breath and gave him a glaring look; she almost drowned because of him.

"Repeat after us loud and clear." Ragnor ordered. Clary nodded at him.

" _Obscuris vera involvers_ (Wrapping truth in darkness). _Veritas nunquam perit_ (The truth never perishes). _Transit umbra, lux permanet_ (The shadow passes, the light remains). _Atrox Melior Dulcissimas veritas mendaciis_ (The bitter truth is better than the sweetest lies). _Memento mori_ (Remember you're mortel). _Molle timere_ (Do not be afraid). _Luceat lux vestra_ (Let your light shine)." The warlocks said and Clary repeated with her poor accent.

"Ahhhhhh" Clary screamed at the top of her lungs, hundreds of invisible needles were piercing her heart, her blood was terribly boiling. She arched her back as an awful pain dominated her spinal column. " _Luceat lux vestra"_ the warlocks repeated over and over. As the pain reached the highest point, everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8 - Unconscious

I truly don't know what I would do without her, **lusifergirl45** , just represents everything to me, she's just so kind, talented, attentive and sweet. She's a fantastic friend and she deserves all the love in this world. I am so grateful to have her, I'll never let her go ! **Check out her stories !**

Don't forget that I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

* * *

Chapter 8 : Unconscious

Clary tries successfully to open her eyes, but shut them quickly when she started to recognize the feelings spreading throughout her body. Her throat was dry and her limbs felt stiff when she tried to stretch. There were voices but they sounded as if they were in the background of a television show, fuzzy and out of focus. She thought someone was shouting far away but couldn't be sure. Her entire body felt numb, though she could still feel the pain throughout her entire body. She has the same feeling she had after her wisdom teeth removal when the anesthesia was wearing off. Was she drugged?

As panic threatened to take her over, she tried to open her eyes again, this time more slowly. The room was filled with a bright light and the white walls allowed for the light to reflect, appearing brighter than it was. She wasn't in her room, so where was she ?

She looked down at her blanket clad body. Someone had placed a blue blanket over her at some point, but at this point it was useless. Clary threw it on the ground to discover she was wearing a hospital gown. Her confusion was clearing up as the prior events are coming back to her. She remembered what happened. The ritual, the awful pain, but then what?

At the moment her feet touched the ground, cold shivers ran down her spine. She was barefoot and the tiles were terribly cold. Moving slowly, both to stay quiet and to ease her pain, Clary moved towards the white door to her right and put her small, delicate hand on the doorknob. As she was about to turn it, the voices she heard a few seconds before began getting louder.

"What were you thinking!? I can't believe you were so reckless, Maryse! This is a disaster. It's been two days! Two _whole days_ since she fell into whatever kind of coma this is. She... If anything happens to her, I swear it on the angel, you and the warlocks will face terrible consequences." Luke shouted. Though Clary was happy to both hear Luke and hear that he wasn't happy about this situation either, she was scared. Clary had never heard that tone of voice from Luke before, and she hadn't realized she was out so long. He was obviously worried and upset.

 _I need to see him right now, he is worried sick._ Clary thought, immediately feeling guilty and responsible for the state he was in. But another voice answered to him so Clary stayed behind the door in order to hear the conversation.

"I know." The voice replied, somewhat soothingly. "I am so sorry, Luke. There is not enough words in the universe that could make it up to you. I should have waited for you to be with Clary during the ritual…" Someone answered quietly, Clary assumed it was Maryse, but couldn't tell through the thick door.

"Yes, exactly! Why did you even start without me?" he roared. "You know perfectly well who I am to Clary..." This comment confused Clary for a moment but she recovered quickly, pressing her ear to the door to try and hear what came next better. "That's why I don't understand how you could do this!" Luke replied with a broken voice. Clary felt her heart break for the man she's seen as a father figure for most of her life.

"I didn't want to." The woman sighed. "The warlocks burnt the juniper branches, and their effect stops after twenty minutes so they had to start the ritual very fast. If the effect wore off, than Clary could have been in danger." Maryse told Luke.

"What are you saying Maryse? That doesn't make any sense and it is one sad excuse. The juniper branches are used to purify a place before doing a ritual ! The effect doesn't wear off after a few minutes. The place stays pure for at least a week." Luke answered irritated. Clary could only imagine the look Luke was giving Maryse and smirked to herself.

"Well, this juniper branches were not the usual kind!" Maryse half yelled, exasperated. "They come from the hidden Pretmage hill of the Brocelind forest of Idris. They have the ability to purify a place like you know, but they also create an invisible dome that protects a place, no one can localize the people under this dome. The warlocks and I supposed that at the moment her powers were unlocked, _they_ would try to localize her. She was under the radar when her powers were blocked, but now…" Maryse said very quietly, she was actually whispering. Clary pushed her ear harder against the door, straining to hear the rest.

"Oh…"Luke replied quietly. "Now I understand…but I still think I should of been there, you know."

Their conversation was getting quieter and quieter, though Clary couldn't figure out why. Did they notice that Clary was listening? The girl was still standing in front of the white door, sticking her ear so hard on the door that she was almost part of it now. Still, no sound came out. The noiselessness was unbearable and she turned the knob expecting to see Luke and Maryse but no one was standing there. The emptiness of the corridor only gave her more to worry about. Did she hallucinated the entire conversation?

She ran down the corridor, red curly hair locks dangling on her face. But after only 350 feet, she was out of breath. She stopped at the end of the corridor, noticing the stone archway that she was standing in front of. It meant she was definitely in the institute. Clary took a few steps forward to be at the top of a spiral staircase, but she could sense that something was different. It was clearly not the same staircase she took the first time with Luke to get into the Institute, because this one was too rough, dark and narrow. She was in a unvisited part of the Institute.

She went down the stairs until she saw an opening. She might have descended 4 or 5 levels but couldn't be sure. Finally reaching the opening to exit, she walked down a familiar corridor. This is where Maryse and her started their visit on Clary's first day. The redhead tries to remember something that could help her find Luke.

An invisible light bulb lits up above Clary's head. He must be in the great hall, she thought. Where the ritual happened! Her legs started moving quicker and now she was running down the corridor. She barged in a couple of rooms before finding the great hall. Her weak arms pushed the doors open and she was more aware of how weak her body was, her legs were barely keeping her up, but adrenaline kept her going. Two people immediately turned around to look at her. She had found them.

"L-Luke" Clary managed to blurt, desperately, while stretching her arms towards him. He ran in her direction and hugged her so fondly he was now picking her up off the floor. It was a good thing too, because Clary doubted she had enough strength in her body to keep her standing.

"Ohh kiddo, you got me worried sick, I didn't know if you would..." his voice quivered and he held Clary tighter as if to make sure she was there.

"I am so sorry, the ritual was just a lot for me to handle I guess." Clary said. Luke helped her sit on a chair. The great hall looked usual, all the tables and chairs were placed where they were supposed to be as if the ritual never happened. Clary remembered that she heard their conversation.

"Where were you 5 or 10 minutes ago?" She asked hoping to get a logical answer.

Luke looked at her oddly for a few seconds then answered " I was here with Maryse, it's been more than a hour actually, I even had a meeting".

How was she able to hear their conversation while she was 5 floors above them? Clary was more confused than ever. Were hallucinations a side effect of the ritual? The redhead decided to keep this for herself, unsure if it was a reliable fact, she wasn't sure if it really happened. Maybe it was the doing of her imagination added up with the drugs used on her while she was unconscious.

The doors swung open and the warlocks came barging in, all ten of them looking relieved to see Clary.

"Look at this cutie pie, awake and ready to be a shadowhunter !" Magnus exclaimed while throwing red sparkles in her direction.

"Can you explain to me why the ritual was so painful ?" Clary asked half angry, though also half curious.

Magnus looked at the warlocks next to him, Lulach Dell and Ragnor Fell, he didn't say a word, it looked like he was asking them what to answer to Clary's question.

"Well dearie, we don't know why… This was the first time in history we used this spell, so of course it was unpredictable. I am truly sorry for what you had to go through. While you were unconscious, we gave you some potions, to reduce the pain." Magnus told Clary after he checked her vitals. "We don't know if there are other side effects, so please keep in touch with us if you see anything strange happen."Eupraxia Syto said looking at Luke. Luke nodded and shook his hand. Wilhelm Wyot stepped forward, moved his arms in circular motions, the entire place was hit by a vibration and a portal opened at the end of Wilhelm's hands. The group of warlocks followed Wilhelm and disappeared into the portal. A week ago if Clary witnessed what just happened she would have gone insane,p this was so unreal. The warlocks just disappeared into thin air, this was incredible.

"I am really hungry…" Clary said looking at Luke and Maryse.

"Oh my dear Raziel, this child hasn't eaten in two days! Bring her some food immediately." Maryse shouted in a direction that Clary deduced was the kitchen.

"Luke and I must attend to another meeting, I'll call Isabelle to keep you company." Maryse said while Luke and her left the room. Clary could see Luke didn't want to leave her so soon after he got her back, but she knew he had responsibilities to respect.

A few minutes later, the brunette came running into the great hall. She looked at Clary and smiled as if she was her Christmas present.

"Give me a minute" she said running in the kitchen's direction, she came back with the biggest tray Clary ever saw. Izzy settled the tray on the table, and put the different plates in front of Clary. Waffles, pancakes, syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs, brownies, orange juice or a mimosa maybe, Clary couldn't tell the difference by sight. She threw herself on the plates and gobbled up most of the food. Izzy was shocked at first but then started laughing uncontrollably. Clary gave her a furious look and Izzy got quiet but was still smiling. Ten minutes after, Clary ate everything but left the bacon.

"Don't you like bacon ?" Izzy asked curiously.

"I am vegetarian…" The redhead said smiling at Izzy. As a response the brunette took the bacon and ate it.

"Food shouldn't be wasted, and i'll tell the cooks to make you vegetarian food from now on, don't worry!" Izzy told her friend. "How do you feel? I visited you when you were unconscious." she stated. "I actually read you my favorite story 4 of 5 times." Izzy blushed. Clary was surprised by Izzy's doings.  
"I feel better now that I've eaten. What's your favorite story by the way?" Clary asked Izzy, interested in her friend's tastes.  
"Oh come on, you already know the answer!" Izzy told Clary, acting offended at the question.  
"Is it the one your father told us?" Clary asked,raising her right eyebrow with a small smirk.  
"Yes! I´ll never get tired of listening to our history..." Izzy responded looking in a random direction. She was far away, lost in her thoughts. Clary wanted to hit her with a pillow just to see if the girl would snap out of it, but she related a little bit more to the brunette because she was almost always lost in her thoughts.  
"Could we play some sort of game to test my memory? The ritual might have some side effects on me, so I want to test my memory." Clary told Izzy, ripping the girl out of her daydreams. Izzy nodded and started thinking.  
"Okay, I got an idea." Izzy stated whilst she pushed the tray and plates away. She pointed at one of the sentences carved into the table, " _Facilis descensus averni._ " Izzy pronounced with an accent, then added "A few days ago I translated this for you, can you repeat it to me?"  
Clary thought for a moment then answered. "Is it something like 'it's easy to go to hell?'" Clary asked. She giggled. "No wait I know, 'the descent to hell is easy'" Clary replied smiling, something happened in her head and she immediately said "Wait this sentence...it talks about Lucifer being cast out of heaven, doesn't it? It might be like a reminder that anyone can go to hell, so you mustn't sin..." Clary remarked.

Izzy told her she was actually impressed with how quickly she was able to make the link and asked Clary to do the same with the rest of the sentences.

 _"Si vis pacem, para bellum._ " Clary read with a poor accent "I think I remember this one too. It's something like, 'if you want peace prepare for war', ohh wait this refers to Lucifer wagging war against heaven, to conquer it for his lover and his children ." Clary said while retracing the sentence with her finger.  
"Here we have..." Izzy told Clary pointing at another sentence.  
" _Amor vincit omnia_ , it obviously talks about love but I can't remember what it means..." Clary said. The self-reproach could be heard in her low pitched voice.  
"Don't be too hard with yourself, it means 'love conquers all', refers to the unique and unstoppable couple. I am obviously alluding to Lucifer and Lilith who conquered the 4 kingdoms : Heaven, Hell, Earth and the Antiquus Purgatorium." Izzy managed to say out of breath. She was truly passionate about this.  
"Wait, I can do this one I am sure of it." Clary said determined. She focused on another sentence. _"Oderint dum metuant_. I remember this one because it intrigued me. It's 'let them hate as long as they fear'. I guess this refers to Lucifer and Lilith's command, right?" Clary asked a little proud of herself. She always loved succeeding in anything: video games, challenges, exams...  
"Yes... and no actually. This sentence, 'let them hate as long as they fear', is not only about Lucifer and Lilith but it's about the De Lapsis dynasty and the Camphbilim dynasty too." Izzy replied.  
"Okay…" Clary thought, trying to understand. "Can I ask why Lucifer called his children, his lineage, the De Lapsis? Is there a meaning to it?" Clary asked curiously.  
"He called this new race that he created the De Lapsis as a reminder they were his. The De Lapsis is a Latin expression, it means those who have fallen. He obviously gave his race this name because he is the ultimate fallen one." Izzy responded glad to give this information she knew by heart. Izzy gave Clary a proud look and Clary smirked to herself silently.  
"I wanted to ask you about this, but I forgot. Lucifer's child, the boy had a power, he could make his opponents dizzy using his eyes. Lucifer called it the stare of N-na-nachè or something what is that?" Clary inquired.  
"I think you are talking about the stare of Nachash. Do you know the story about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden?" Izzy asked. The redhead nodded yes, so Izzy continued. "Lucifer was in this story in the form of a snake, during that period he was called Nachash. He seduced Eve with the power of his eyes. That's why Lucifer called his child's power the stare of Nachash." Izzy replied. "Do you have more questions?" Izzy interrogated Clary. The redhead shook her head no.  
"Good because I do! Tell me more about the guy you spent time with, pleeease." Izzy begged, Clary's cheeks turned crimson.  
"I feel like you will not give up until you get an answer." Clary gave Izzy a look, already knowing the taller girl's response. Izzy gave her a big smile and told her she would never give up.  
"Fine, his name is Chris. I don't know much about him but I get this weird feeling when I am around him. Something about him is intriguing me and I want to know more about him... and he has my number..." Clary told her friend while looking down, her traitor skin giving way to a deep red blush.  
"What...damn already?! You are going for it aren't you?" Izzy said, laughing and wiggling her eyebrows.  
A small, acute sound came out of Izzy´s pocket and when she checked it her face lit up.  
"Oh my Lucifer! When I came across Luke he gave me your phone so I could give it to you." Izzy said handing the phone to Clary. "I think you just received a text from Chris..." Izzy told her winking.


	9. Chapter 9 - Leap into the Void

**lusifergirl45** as always is working very hard on this with me, she's just so kind, talented, attentive and sweet. She's a fantastic friend and she deserves all the love in this world. I am so grateful to have her, I'll never let her go ! **Check out her stories !** She is working on a fanfic right now called "T **he Transfer"** (harry potter fandom) check it out !

Don't forget that I created a blog, to post pictures of some objects, clothes, buildings present in the chapters, I highly suggest that you give it look, there is one article for each chapter. I think it can **help you the readers to have a better experience** , **a better vision**. It's here : fanfic-illustration . blogspot . fr (without the spaces lol), you can find the link on profil.

* * *

 **On Clary's phone :**

 **Chris (sms text) : Hey, I am sorry I didn't text you before, I was actually out of town. Can I call you right now? I've got to ask you something?** "

Clary felt a rush of happiness hitting her, her heart's beat louder in her chest. _Why is he asking this? What does he wants to tell me? Okay Clary calm down he just wants to talk it's fine, get your act together and answer his text._ Clary thought to herself while Izzy was reading Chris' text discreetly. Clary looked at Izzy, expecting her to leave so that she could talk to Chris privately, but then she quickly remembered how Izzy was, so she gave up.

 **Clary tipped on her phone :**

 **Clary : Yeah, go ahead.**

The two girls looked at the phone expecting the call, they waited in silence in the same position for at least five minutes without moving a single time. Clary's phone rang and vibrated suddenly, causing the two girls to let out a small noise of surprise at the same time, each looked the other in the eyes and laugh at their own reactions. Clary cleared her throat and picked up the phone.

* * *

Phone conversation :

Chris : "Allo, Hey, hope I am not disturbing you!"

Clary : "Hey, of course not, you're definitely the last thing on earth that could bother me right now."

Chris : *laughs* "Well I am glad to hear that. Something about you, the beautiful yet angry redhead who bumped into me in the corridor, is intriguing me. And I feel the need to get to know you better…"

Clary : *smiles uncontrollably hearing that* "I want to get to know you too actually…

Chris : Clary I think you know where I am going with this conversation, would you go out of me tonight? And yes it's a date…"

*Clary held her breath for a few seconds,she was kind of expecting this but she was still shocked that a men like him would ask her out! Even more seconds past, Chris was waiting for her answer and so he cleared his voice to remind her he was waiting.*

Clary : "Yes, I'd love it."

Chris : "I don't know your room number so let's just meet each other in the tapestries room, you remember how to get there right?"

Clary : "uh I am not sure... but I'll manage to find my way, so at what time shall we meet ?"

Chris : "7pm is perfect. And don't wear something you're not comfortable moving with."

Clary : "what do you mean exactly by 'moving' ?"

Chris : "Running, climbing, jumping, et cetera, the usual you know!"

*Clary frowned, _what kind of date is this going to be? Oh no... What if it's a date according to the Shadowhunter's norms, do they even have different dates from the mundane ones ?_ Clary mumbled quietly so Chris couldn't hear her.*

Clary : "What kind of date are you taking me to?" *Clary giggled nervously*.

Chris : "Well that wouldn't be fun if I told you, would it?" He asked rhetorically. "Don't worry, I am sure, you'll love it."

Clary heard some voices in the background of the phone, _Chris wasn't alone, who was with him?_ Clary wondered.

Chris : I am unfortunately requested somewhere, I have to go, see you tonight _my primus aurum._ *he hung up the phone"

* * *

Izzy was still staring at Clary, "pleeease tell me everything" the brunette begged.

"I am going out with him tonight… I don't know what to wear because he said something weird about wearing something I am comfortable moving with! Izzy do Shadowhunters go on different dates than humans ?" Clary demanded sounding a little stressed.

"I mean it depends on the Shadowhunters, but usually we have dates like mundanes but maybe your Chris wants to do something different. Oh lucifer, Clary you MUST let me choose you outfit for tonight!" Izzy said a little bit too enthusiastically.

"That's nice but i think I'll wear leggings and a sweatshirt. I am only comfortable moving freely with that…" Clary said with a low pitched voice that revealed her anxiousness, she wasn't very athletic.

"Are you out of your mind, a guy is taking you on a date and you want to look like a PE student?! Please,I beg of you, let me dress you!"

Clary though for a few seconds, Izzy only wore revealing clothes. Clary didn't mind that, she was simply worried that she'd freeze to death, revealing clothes plus winter was a big no no.

"Okay but I have a veto right on the outfit." Clary said looking at Izzy already heading to the corridor. "Wait a minute, Chris said something at the end of the call... I think he called me _primus aurum_ , what the bloody hell is that ?" Clary asked, Izzy stopped walking and turned around to face the redhead.

"Can you repeat that ? I think I heard it somewhere. Follow me" Izzy said turning back and started walking down the corridor.

"Primus aurum I think." Clary said while trying to keep up with the brunette who was unnaturally walking fast.

After a moment the brunette stopped in front of the two big wooden doors, Clary recognized them and knew she was about to enter the library. The lightwood girl opened the doors, walked straight ahead and stopped in the middle of the library with Clary by her side. Izzy looked at Clary and winked. Clary knew something unusual was about to happen, she could see it in Izzy's sparkling eyes. Izzy looked at the ceiling, no, she looked at the immense chandelier that was hanging down from it. Izzy took a small willowy metal stick interlaced with a silver snake, out of her pocket. It was similar to what Maryse used to heal her hand but was decorated differently. Izzy left up her crop top, and pulled her bra a little down. She had a small cylindrical scar at the top of her right boob. She used the metal stick to draw a symbol over the scar, her face twitched a little at the contact; she must have felt a little pain. Clary watched dazzled as the scar turned into one of the tattoos, no, runes, Clary recalled what Maryse told her about these runes- they grant them supernatural abilities. Clary noticed that the rune Izzy activated was different, it was first glowing then turned red while the other runes on Izzy's body were black.

The redhead was about to open her mouth to ask why, but Izzy inhaled and exhaled three times as if she was getting into a spiritual state, " _Pedes in terra ad sivera visus_ (feet on the ground at the sight of the stars)" Izzy hissed in an ancient accent.

*dtrreee* A strange noise came out of the ceiling, it sounded like old metal cogs were up and running after a long time then it all stopped in a *click*. Some parts of the chandelier moved and two branches of diamonds pointed in two different directions, some of the diamonds were glowing in a strange faint milky light .

"The branches are pointing at the North and the West, and give me a minute to count the number of glowing diamonds on the branches" Izzy said seriously very focused. "Okay so it's 13 to North and 8 to the West" Izzy told Clary who was still trying to understand, the brunette noticed her confusion and explained "The reason why the rune was on my right boob is simply because it has to remain secret to the other Shadowhunters, no one knows about this rune except the families responsible of the different institutes and the royals obviously because they created it. Only the people wearing this rune and the ones who knows the sentence I pronounced are capable of activating the chandelier."

"Activate to do what?" Clary wondered, astonished by what Izzy said.

"To show us the way, you silly." Izzy said as if it was the most obvious thing to her, she took the redhead's hand into hers, "follow me" the brunette said. Izzy started walking and counting at the same time, 13 steps to the North, stopped, turned to her left, then did 8 steps to the West. They were both in front of a massive oak shelf, chock-full of old and new books, Izzy's eyes were traveling on the shelf just as though she was remembering something, then after a few instants, she leaned and pushed two books, got up and moved the position of 3 other books in the middle of the shelf and finally she tiptoed and used her hands to push 4 books at the same time. A hard intonation could be heard above them, the superior part of the shelf was moving, the books changed their position, and after a few seconds the center of the superior shelf formed a square hole. Izzy took a step forward and placed her right foot on one of the inferior part of the shelf.

"Wait, what are you doing Izzy ?" Clary demanded.

"I am starting to climb the shelf obviously, how do you think we are going to get to that hole?" she said pointing at the hole which was 30 feets above them, Clary looked at her aghast and Izzy remembered she wasn't a trained Shadowhunter. The brunette took back the metal stick and took a step in the redhead's direction, she raised her hand to put the extremity of the stick on the redhead's pale skin. But Clary flinched, she didn't know if she was ready to be marked, to truly become a Shadowhunter, to see her immaculate skin be stained. She then convinced herself that this was what her mother wanted her to do, so she inhaled and exhaled and relaxed her body.

"You can draw the symb- the rune on my skin but somewhere people won't see, like…" Clary looked at her body then said "on my belly" and lifted her hospital gown. Izzy manipulated the metal stick with a surgical precision and drew the rune, two half circles stacked on top of eachother, on the opposite direction and a line was separating them. Clary expected the process to hurt because Maryse and Izzy winced when they did it, as if it was stinging, but no she didn't feel any to her relief, it was refreshing and warm in a positive way. In such way that she was craving for more runes to be drawn on her body. But right now, she needed to climb the shelf, so she followed Izzy's advise and climbed pretty easily, her arms and legs were moving naturally and without any difficulty, her breathing was steady, not like in PE class. She reached the hole, with a final push from her legs and she was in it, a tunnel made of cold stones, like the ones used to built the cathedral, _maybe we are inside of the walls…_ Clary thought. They were walking on all four but weirdly enough Clary had the impression the tunnel was perfectly made for their two bodies to crawl correctly.

"I know what you must be thinking... yeah the tunnel is magic, the work of a warlock, the tunnel get larger or smaller depending on who is going in." Izzy exclaimed happy to share the information. "Clary, we are coming at the end of the tunnel, don't be afraid about what I am going to say...but to get to our destination, we must jump into the void, it's one of the warlock's protection only Shadowhunters and people who have pure intentions can pass.

It's completely dark so you can't see anything but as long as you have faith in yourself as a Shadowhunter then you can make it." Izzy said trying to reassure the redhead who looked a little worried.

"Wait... what happens to the people who aren't Shadowhunters and the ones who don't have pure intentions?"Clary inquired immediately.

"The warlock enthralled the place in such way that if someone unwelcome jumps, a portal opens right below him during his fall and he gets teleported in a place of the world like the °Aokigahara forest, °The Danakil Desert, °llha da Queimada Grande, °the Darvaza, you know just the most terrible places of the world, no one could survive a day there. Not even a Shadowhunter, because the warlock modified this portal, when you are teleported your clothes and the objets you have, are teleported somewhere else. So you end up naked in one of the most dangerous places of the world..." Izzy explained. Clary got goosebumps just imagining herself in that terrible position. "Okay, I'll jump first, wait a little, count to 20 just to make sure I reach the ground before you, then jump." Izzy explained slowly to make sure Clary understood everything.

"What's below ?" Clary questioned immediately.

"What you need..." Izzy said while jumping into the void, her voice echoed a few seconds, Clary looked at her as she disappeared into the darkness. With Izzy gone, the silence became more and more important, Clary could literally hear her own breathing and the darkness was her only companion. She closed her eyes trying to focus on what to do, she started counting, taking her time to actually pronounce each and every number until she finally reached 20. _Okay, okay, okay I can do this, it's fine, I am a Shadowhunter and I don't have bad intentions, nothing bad is going to happen to me, come on…_ Clary reminded herself to get some courage. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, moving her hands a little to reach the edges of the tunnel and she could feel the void. The air was humid and cooler but the smell of old stones was dominating the small space. Using the edges of the tunnel to push herself forward, to get some momentum, she plunged into the void...

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°The Aokigahara forest : Also known as the " **Sea of Trees" or "the perfect place to die," ,** it's a forest that lies at the base of Mount Fuji, less than 100 miles west of Tokyo. The exact number of suicides committed here in a year is unknown as the police discontinued publishing this data.

°The Danakil Desert : The Danakil Desert located in Ethiopia. This desert is one of the hottest and most lifeless in the world.

°lha da Queimada Grande : Also known as " **Snake Island",** is an island off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean. The island was thought to have a population of about 430,000 snakes.

°The Darvaza : " **Door to Hell** " or '' **Gates of Hell** ", is a natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan, that collapsed into an underground cavern, becoming a natural gas crater.

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Thank you so much for reading my fanfic, sorry I haven't had the time to update sooner, I swear that **I will update quicker from now on**. Thanks a lot for all the nice reviews it means a lot to know that actual people are reading it and enjoying it ! Thanks for adding it on your favs :) Plz tell me how you feel about this chapter and the story in general, **always LOVE feedback !**


	10. Chapter 10 - The Domus

I am so sorry for taking this much time to update please forgive me ! I'll swear I'll make some effort, it's just that exams are coming up, I am to make important decisions like universities and stuff. Hope you'll enjoy this chap, don't worry the next chap will the date, so be little more patient sweeties ! I have to thank my amazing and incredible Beta, **lusifergirl45** she works very quickely so please go check out her stories.

I appreciate the reviews guys it actually motivates me, it's so cool to see that actual people are following this story and reading it lol.

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The redhead was still wearing the hospital gown they put her in after the ritual. Clary felt stupid for plunging head first. She was upside down and she had to find a way to change that or she would land head first and may not be able to back up.

The gown was slipping because of her position and her thighs were in direct contact with the cold air. Goosebumps had started taking over her body. Moving her arms upwards while bending her knees to make her body rotate, she pushed her pelvis hard ahead and her body finally moved. She was relieved for a moment, until she became aware of what was happening. Though her body was weightless, the humid icy wind was rushing into her ears and making her hair fly all over her face and the darkness was unbearable. Tears filled her eyes because of the cold wind.

Maybe this is what Lucifer felt when he was cast out of heaven, Clary thought.

The fall was still going and Clary had stopped screaming. A small, delicate, and gracious soprano voice appeared, and told her "The momentous element is not the fall but the landing."

Where was this voice coming from? Was it her imagination? Her dead mom watching over her from the other side? A side effect of the ritual ?

Right now the answer didn't matter, she had to focus. She didn't know what was below her so she had to be ready for the landing. She looked down to see a small light getting bigger as the fall continued. She knew the landing was close and so Clary bent her knees and arched her back. She closed her eyes and before she could open them again, her right foot was on the ground, her left knee was next to it and her hands were displayed on her thighs as if to make sure she was still there. Clary looked like a knight during a knighting ceremony. Izzy exhaled out of astonishment while looking at Clary with something unusual in her eyes, it was a mix of awe and surprise. Clary, with her eyes still closed,breathed unpolluted fresh air. The only times she breathed this kind of air was when she went camping with her mom, Luke and Simon. But soon another scent joined the previous one, Clary focused and recognized the smell of candle wax, old books, metal and something else that she couldn't put her hands on it. This scent was exotic but not unfamiliar. Clary knew it wasn't the first time she smelled it, maybe was it a flower?

Dust particles flew around Clary as she got up from her "knighting ceremony" position. They were in the center of this tremendous octogonal room that was even bigger than the library. Small black & white chandeliers and torches were placed everywhere and illuminated the humongous place. Clary swore that some of them were levitating in the air, she thought it might have been the work of a warlock.

Red and black wool tapestries were placed on the floor. Six white oak shelves were placed symmetrically in the room with new and old books. The white stone walls were covered by long red and white velvet drapes. To Clary's right, stood a 19th century victorian carved red walnut sofa, and to her right stood an imposing 19th century neoclassical french walnut display armoire painted in white. It was filled with weapons such as blades, swords, whips, bows, daggers, axes, arrows and even guns. Though it seemed like this armoire was always locked, the weapons appeared shiny and new. Maybe there was no need to use them in here. Every 10 meters, there was a man or a women wire mannequin, wearing black and white combat gear, exotic traditional clothes coming from a culture Clary didn't know, shining jewelry, dazzling mundane evening gowns, slim-fit tuxedo suits in velvet, modern ones, and ancient uncommon ones too.

They were marvelous. There was at least 30 wire mannequins in this room. The room they were in wasn't the only one, as there were four wooden doors placed at respective distances on the walls. Clary felt like she had been transported into a castle from another era.

Clary couldn't believe this and felt that she had to touch something, so she made her way towards the walls and touched one of the ancient white stones to make sure the place was real. The girl was amazed by the warmth that was coming out of it. She turned to Izzy, raising an eyebrow, asking a silent question. Izzy was expecting Clary's usual questions so she moved to be closer to her and started explaining.

"As I said before only a few Shadowhunters know about this place, you have to swear to me that you will not tell anyone about ANY of THIS." Clary nodded and gave Izzy her word that nothing said or seen here will leave this place. Clary was the first person Izzy revealed this place too, the Lightwood girl wasn't worried about the consequences she could face in front of her family if they learned what she did.

Revealing this sacred and ancient place to a stranger… Somehow, Izzy trusted her new friend and knew deep inside that Clary was innocent and would never betray her secret.

"Okay then, we're in the Domus. It's the main room and there are 4 more rooms. This is where the royals stay when they visit this Institute. There is a replica of this place in each Institutes around the world. " Izzy stopped and observed the redhead, her reaction was quite surprising because she wasn't shocked, she was amazed and intrigued. Her facial traits revealed that she needed to know more, Izzy smiled at her curiosity and continued.

"All the clothes you see on these wire mannequins and the weapons in the armory belong to the royalty." Izzy said while touching a red evening gown with golden reliefs. Awe could be seen in her eyes. She moved to one of the book shelves and said "And as you can see around you there are 6 shelves filled with books. The books are about the royal lineage, about the wars they fought, how the ancient queens and kings ruled, their abilities, their powers, and you can find the biography of each and every member of The Camphbilim and The De Lapsis dynasty, even some diaries. You can lay hands on books about stories, poems, songs inspired by them, they actually inspired many great mundane writers, you know…"

Clary moved to rejoin Izzy, she thought for a moment and then spoke to the Lightwood girl.

"Izzy this place is truly amazing. I can't believe we're still in the Institute. How many places are there in the Institute that I don't know about? Did the royals already visit this place? Did you see any of them? And why did you bring me here?"

"Okay girl slow down with the questions." Izzy said laughing "Well yes, there are some places you haven't seen yet but don't worry I'll show you all of that. Yes of course, they come at least five times a year, and sometimes they come for emergencies or festivities. I had the exceptional opportunity to meet some of them, but not all unfortunately. I can't wait for that day to come. And finally the reason why we are here is…" Izzy's voice trailed off. She bent her back a little and used her beautiful soft arms to reach something behind the books. She whooped and picked up a smaller book behind the other books. It had a beautiful cover, drawings of red poppies and white roses. "This is a collection of poems dedicated to Lucifer and Lilith. Can you repeat to me exactly what Chris called you on the phone?" Izzy asked the girl while flipping through the book.

"Wait, hum… I think it was something like primus aurum, right?" Clary told her, trying really hard to remember what Chris said.

"Yes…" Izzy stopped at one page and read the text, after a few seconds, Izzy pointed at a place on the page and shouted "Here, I knew it wasn't the first time I heard it. Look at this." Izzy moved to show the page to Clary. The redhead saw two versions of the poem, one in latin and one in English so she read the English one out loud.

"That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive

And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

And still she sits, young while the earth is old,

And, subtly of herself contemplative.

The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where

Is he not found, O lilith, Whom shed scent

And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?"

Clary looked at the latin translation and read "primus aurum" below "first gold". Clary looked at Izzy, but the redhead didn't know what to do with that information.

"Clary, there are only four books like this one, in the world, if Chris called you primus aurum, it means he read this poem, that he had access to one of these books. So he must have an important position or friends that are highly placed." Izzy said.

"Okay but why did he call me that ?" Clary wondered.

"This poem is about Lilith, she actually had golden hair, not blond hair, but really golden hair. It's related to the angels' grace, you know the angels Lucifer sacrificed to make her. Weirdly, her children never had hair like hers, but they had blond or red hair. So Chris, called you like that because of the color of your hair. It's actually pretty damn cute, he did his homeworks!" Izzy laughed off. Clary looked at her annoyed, then remembered where she was.

"Izzy can we look around this place?" Clary asked with her best begging puppy eyes. Izzy didn't even think about the question before accepting and she took Clary's hand, leading her to one of the four doors. She opened the door slowly, to make the suspense last, though she could feel Clary's impatience rising. The door was finally wide open and darkness was reigning. Izzy took a step forward and two torches on each side lit up, then two others, then four, then all the rest. They were at the beginning of a long corridor, torches on each wall, and impressive paintings between them. On the right wall, there were paintings of men's portraits, and on the left wall paintings of women's portraits.

They were all nicely dressed and they posed with grace, elegance, pride, you name it. They were the royals, each man and woman facing each other as if they were looking at the other with something undescriptible in their eyes. Attraction, maybe? Or love? They were all couples, Clary guessed easily.

They started walking side by side, admiring each and every painting. The people in them were unrealistically attractive and beautiful and were even better looking than mundane models. They had angelic facial traits like Lucifer, and demonic tempting bodies like Lilith. You could still see some human in them though, for it was Jonathan Shadowhunter's genetic heritage. Clary and Izzy were now in the middle of the corridor, betwixt two paintings facing each other. They were twice the size of the other paintings, their golden frames inlaid with jewels unlike the others. They must be more important. The quality of the oil painting was better, it even smelled good, something exotic, like a flower but Clary couldn't recognize the scent.

The painting on the right represented a tall, dark haired men with sharp facial features. His body was muscular like Greek athletes and his skin was tanned. He appeared to be charming and charismatic, and he had flamboyant massive immaculate wings on his back.

It was him.

"Lucifer." Clary pronounced, amazed. She immediately knew who was on the painting facing Lucifer's and she turned around to observe the beautiful,attractive woman. With her golden hair and curvaceous body, she was the very definition of beauty. The muse of numerous authors. Her skin was pale unlike Lucifer, albeit she was Lucifer's equal, his authentic, one and only soulmate.

"They were truly beautiful, their beauty was out of this world, right?" Izzy exclaimed,caressing Lucifer's painting.

"Yeah I can see that…unbelievable!" Clary answered, feeling very small between the paintings of these two intense immortal entities. She felt like she would suffocate if she stayed here longer, so her legs started moving without permission and she was already at the end of the corridor facing the last few paintings by the time she noticed. Clary immediately recognized the smell of a fresh oil painting and it triggered a memory of the times when she would come home to this smell. A small pain in her chest made her eyes water a little bit and she wiped the coming tears before Izzy could see them. Clary searched for the cause of this smell and found it was coming from the last painting on the right wall. It was unfinished, only the bottom part of the canvas was painted. Clary studied the canvas and found a set of man's clothes to be painted, though the face was nowhere to be seen.

"Izzy, come, check this out!" Clary called to the Lightwood girl. Izzy stood next to her in front of the unfinished canvas.

"Wait, this painting's not even dry..." Izzy said while thinking, "Oh lux ferre! Clary it means the painter was just here. We can't stay here very long, what if he comes back? If he sees us, we'll get in trouble." Izzy told Clary. Clary was astound by this painting and she wanted to know more, so she turned around to see his presumed lover or his wife, but nothing but an empty frame stood there. Clary's curiosity only increased after that.

"Okay fine we'll go, but first tell me who's the man on the unfinished painting? And where's his lover, why's the frame empty ?" The redhead asked.

"The man on the painting is the actual heir, the prince. I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, but I am sure he's handsome as hell. The reason why there is no woman in front of his painting is because, he doesn't have a sister. He doesn't have a suited equal to marry. Because you know, the royal inbreed not to lose their powers and abilities that make them who they are. So it's obviously an awful dilemma…" Izzy exclaimed with sadness and pity in her voice. She was touched by what she was saying. "As you may know or not, every royal families, mundane or not, must make children to have successeurs, or heirs if you prefer, to keep the royal blood alive and make sure the same family stays on the throne and rules forever.

Unfortunately the prince doesn't have a legitimate woman to marry because like I said before he's an only child. Some rumors are going around that he'll have to choose a, highly born Shadowhunter woman to marry. Can you imagine? How amazing it could be if he chose me, somehow?" Izzy said while looking in the horizon with sparkling eyes.

"I know it's not my business and all but I find it weird that they have to marry members of their own family. I mean my world was turned upside down a few days ago and I only know a little about your world and your culture but still…" Clary said to Izzy, which took the dark haired girl out of her daydreaming of the prince. "To me incest was something forbidden in every cultures… but I guess I was wrong." Clary murmured.

"It might be forbidden in the mundane cultures, but not in ours. Think about it Clary, who were the first individuals to commit incest? And who ordered it?" Izzy asked these rhetorical questions to make Clary think. "Lucifer's first children committed incest and Lucifer was the one to command it. And who's Lucifer to us, Clary?" Izzy continued with her rhetorical questions. "He's the reason why we are here, he started absolutely everything. Jonathan Shadowhunter helped of course to create Shadowhunters, but Lucifer was the one to send the Angel Raziel to earth. And it is Lucifer's lineage who ruled and showed us the way during hundreds of centuries. Lucifer is the one we pray too, he's the all mighty, he's our-" Izzy was cut by the redhead who finished her sentence for her.

"God ! He's your god" Clary exclaimed understanding everything a little better.

"Come on, we should go before the painter comes back" Izzy said while walking in the Domus' direction.

Izzy explained to the redhead that leaving this place was only possible through a portal, they had to lower the black lever which was on the right wall. Izzy went in that direction and stopped short in front of a wired mannequin. It was wearing a beautiful, amber camisole, the edges of the neckline were in lace. Izzy took it off from the wire mannequin and the piece of clothing was fluid in her hands like water, but it had golden reflections.

"Remember you told me I'd choose your outfit for tonight, well this will be perfect." Izzy said while handing her the camisole.

"Are you insane?! Didn't you tell me the clothes on the wire mannequins belong to the royalty? I can't wear it, it's forbidden!" Clary asked worried.

"Don't worry about anything, I'll bring it back after your date and no one will ever know." Izzy said and blinked at her. The redhead agreed, though she was still a little concerned but the beauty of the camisole was too great to refuse the offer. The two girls went in the right part of the Domus, than lowered the lever, a portal appeared out of nowhere and they jumped together.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Date Part 1

A BIG APPLAUSE FOR **lusifergirl45** as always who was amazing, she is very quick to do her magic, make this more fluid and better to read.

While I am posting this chapter I am in the library, in my university, yes guys I am in university now, that explains why I took so much time to update I am so sorry. I am doing 2 licenses, one in law and one in languages so that takes litteraly all my time. There are **3 parts for the date** ; the two others are coming soon.

Always I'll LOVE to get some **feedback** , it always makes realize that ACTUAL REAL people are reading this, you know... because it seems so unreal !

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The two girls landed in Clary's room. The redhead was holding her friend's hand, which she must have grabbed when they jumped in the portal. She didn't like to travel through the portal as it made her feel dizzy and bloated.

"Lux ferre, I totally know what you're going to wear with that top, give me a sec." Izzy said while heading to the door. She came back a few moments later with three boxes in her hands, each of different sizes.

"Here I received my order this morning. They are the opaque tribute tights, perfect for your legs!" Izzy handed her the first box. Clary took the box and observed the odd logo on the center of it. It was the head of a woman with snakes as hair, Medusa she remembered. Clary remembered seeing this symbol before, it was the logo on the jewelry box Luke offered to her mother. Then she remembered what brand it was.

"Izzy are you insane? You are landing me Versace leggings? What the hell? These things costs hundreds of dollars, right?" Clary said while putting the box down with medical-grade precision onto the bed.

"Don't be silly, it's just clothes. I would lend you a 5 dollar pair of leggings like I could lend you a 500 dollar pair of leggings. Come on girl, it's not even that big of a deal. You're my friend, it's fine. Take it." the dark haired girl said, and picked the legging out of the box to put it back on the bed.

Clary was amazed to see how a girl she knew for only a few days, was able to trust her like that. She felt bad for not being as open as her new friend but she was raised that way, her mom taught her not to trust anyone new. She had to rely on herself for everything. Losing her mom had other consequences she didn't expect, like finding new ways to socialize, interact with people, and even maybe start to trust them.

"Okay Izzy thank you so much. I'll gladly wear it tonight. What else do you have in your boxes?" Clary asked curiously.

The brunette opened the second boxe, there, layed a beautiful pair of strap black chunky platform wedge heels. "I chose wedge heels because I didn't know if you could run with stilettos." Clary laughed at this remark, remembering the evenings she spent with her mom in the basement, they would often do silly challenges like who could run the longer with heels on the treadmill.

"Actually yes I can run with any kind of heels, so don't worry, that will do." Clary told her while taking the shoe box.

"And finally, here we have…" Izzy trailed off as she opened the last thin box. Clary read Pandora in argent letters, she obviously guessed what it was, jewelry. "...the glamor cascade earrings." The kind of earrings her mom would wear once or twice a year to very special occasions. Clary wanted to refuse all of this, it was too much, she wasn't used to all these fancy things. She's just going on a date, it wasn't her wedding. _No, I have to stop thinking like this. I can wear what I want, it's not going to change who I am, and what's wrong with being a little dressed up?_ the redhead convinced herself. Clary accepted the three boxes from Izzy, whom she thanked her again. Izzy excused herself, she knew the redhead wanted to change, and was well aware that Clary wasn't a hundred percent comfortable with her body.

"Call me once your done, I want to see the final result." the Lightwood said winking at her as she closed the door behind her.

Clary was finally alone. She needed some time to recap everything that happened to her. It was something she did when she had a lot going on.

"Okay, my name is Clary, I lost my mother, I just learned I'm Shadowhunter. My powers were blocked by my mother since I was a child. I did a ritual with the most powerful warlocks, lost conscience and was unconscious for three days. I am now going on a date with a guy who's way out of my league, who I talked to for a few minutes only." Clary sighed heavily as if she wanted to eject the sadness, the anger and the stress out of her body through the carbon dioxide.

 _It's going to be okay, everything is going to be fine, I have to enjoy this date, I need it, I deserve it,_ Clary thought. She gladly took her hospital gown off and threw it in the trash bin hoping to never be in the situation where she'd have to wear one again. A wave of fresh air hit her and woke up some goosebumps, finally realising that she was stark naked she ran to her bed took her outfit and went in her wardrobe direction. The girl opened the drawer where she put her bras and panties and chose a new pair. Black lacy underwears with floral designs. She took the camisole, lifted her arms, let the piece of clothing caress her skin as it went down but something was wrong it didn't fit in the chest part. Clary touched that part and noticed that it was thicker, like a bra sewed inside of the camisole. So she took off the camisole, unclasped her bra, and put it back in the drawer then tried to put the camisole again, braless and it was perfect. This camisole held her boobs in place, she could run a mile without hurting herself. _Smart royalty_ Clary though.

She put on the opaque Versace leggings, the glamor pandora earrings and finally her heels. She wasn't totally ready though, what about her hair? She decided to do something simple. Clary swiftly made a thin braid on each side of her face, took them and joined them at the back of her head. She clipped everything to secure it. Her hands found her perfume in her wardrobe, an Agatha Paris perfume, this one was called "Balade aux Tuileries", a gift from Luke, after winning an art competition. She didn't want to wear makeup so she headed to the door to find Izzy.

"Whoa, Clary you look magnificent!" Her friend exclaimed excited, "and look at your hair! It is so pretty like this!"

Clary blushed at all these compliments, she never considered herself as someone pretty, all she saw was her numerous freckles, her indomptable curly hair, and her thin pale body with no curves. When would she get her mother's curves!?

The redhead looked at her left wrist. Damn it! Her watch wasn't there, they must have taken it when she was resting in the infirmary. She wrote a mental note to go get it tomorrow. She unlocked her phone and saw the time, 6:55 pm.

"Izzy can you please take me to the tapestries room?" Clary asked already walking down the corridor.

"How do you know about that place? You know what it doesn't matter, follow me. Clary you went in the wrong direction." Izzy said as she pointed at the other side of the corridor, "Come on, you don't want to be late now, do you?"

Clary turned back and went in the right direction following Izzy's quick steps.

The girls stood near the tapestry room when Clary stopped Izzy, "I'll take it from here, it's just I don't want to scare him by presenting him a friend before we even go on a date… Please tell me you understand?" Clary asked, she actually was a little afraid of her friend's beauty, what if Chris found Izzy attractive? What if he asked HER on a date?

"Yeah of course sweetie I don't mind at all. I don't know at what time you'll get back but please wake me up and tell me absolutely everything." the Lightwood girl asked impatiently. But then something changed in her look and she was suddenly worried.

"Clary promise me you'll loosen up and try to have fun, I know it's going to be hard but try not to think about your mom. I know it's only been a few days but you went through so much, you deserve to be happy and relaxed… even for a few hours." Izzy asked and seemed scared to hear her friend's response.

"I promise that I'll try Izzy and thank you for everything!" Clary held her hands in hers and finally headed to the tapestry room.

The room hadn't changed a bit, the strong scent of dust, candle wax and wood reminded her of the last time she was here, a smile creeped on her lips.

"Here you are, beautiful!" Chris exclaimed looking at her, he stood up from the wooden bench he was sitting on. But he wasn't alone, another man copied his movements and stood up at the same time. Clary recognized him, it was one of the warlocks from the ritual.

"Clary I present to you a friend of mine, Lulach Dell." Chris said while showing her his friend. Clary was about to tell him that she already met him but Lulach nodded no with his head.

"Nice to meet you dear." Lulach said, took her hand, bent over, and brought her hand to his lips. Clary blushed, why did he act like he didn't know her? Clary decided to follow his lead.

"Well same with you" She responded with a heart warming smile.

"Clary the reason why he's here is because he's a warlock and we need a portal to go to our date." Chris said smiling cockily, proud to pronounce the word date.

Lulach didn't waste a second, he moved his hands in circular motions with elegance, a vibration hit the room and here it was, a circular portal at the end of the warlock's hands.

Chris took Clary's hand and the girl shivered at his touch. She followed him, ready for this new experience, they both jumped in the portal.

Clary's heels collided with some hard concrete road, her hand was squeezing Chris'. She stood up straight and noticed two things. One, they were on a road and two, they weren't alone. Hundreds or maybe thousands of people dressed half naked, with glitter and paint on them, were parading, dancing, singing, and drinking. They all had strings of colorful beads. The smell of alcohol was mixed with sweat and the road was illuminated by hundreds of lanterns and street lights but in reality it was very was dark and the music was coming from everywhere. Clary was surprised to recognize the music, it was "Stay Alive" by Hidden Citizens.

"Where did we land ?" Clary shouted at Chris so he could hear her through all the noises.

"We are in New Orleans and it's midnight here, love!" Chris shouted back. Clary blushed hearing him calling her "love". He then took her hand and led her through the crowd. Strangers were touching her body has she followed Chris; it wasn't inappropriate, they were just having fun and Clary was impressed by the number of young people here. _So this must be what Coachella feels like_ , Clary thought. She looked everywhere, trying to catch every small details to draw it later. She observed Chris from behind. He was wearing a grey Tommy Hilfiger diamond weave slim fit trousers and a nude Ralph Lauren bi-swing windbreaker. He looked like one the rich snobbish boys form her high school, but he wasn't. Was he? _Hope he's not one of them._ Clary had some bad experiences with this kind of boys, Simon and her called them the "Elite" in High School. A guy named Matthew played her well. He acted like he was interested in her, like he loved her, and she believed him. He knew what to say to get girls, it happened for months which is why she believed him. How could someone put so much time and energy to just humiliate someone else?

One day, he asked her to wait for him in the physics empty classroom, she did and he locked her in. Matthew and his group of friends mocked her and took videos of her through the door porthole. She waited there for hours until her mother and Simon came with the high school director to open the door. She never saw Matthew again after that, and she never bothered to ask where he was.

A loud detonation got her out of her thoughts and as she looked upwards, Clary saw amazing colorful fireworks in the dark sky. A small "woah" escaped her lips. Clary listened to the music in the background thoughtfully.

 **But i'm gonna stay alive,**

 **but i'm gonna stay alive.**

 **Yeah, i'm gonna stay alive**

 **(Yeah, i'm gonna stay alive)**

 **(stay alive)**

She was still walking behind Chris when he suddenly turned around and looked her head to toe with a little smile on his face.

"You are so beautiful it's insane. Dance with me Clary." he said with sparkles in his eyes. In this kind of situation most of girls would be afraid because of their dance moves, but Clary had some amazing moves. This was part of the silly challenges she did with her mother, like who could learn a dance choreography the faster, so Clary was able to dance to any kind of songs. They were in the center of a small group of young people dancing, Clary listened to the beats of the song to dance accordingly.

 **Closer than a friend, I can be your enemy  
Closer than a friend for you to make a remedy  
Closer than a friend, I can be your enemy  
Closer than a friend for you to make a remedy  
(Yeah, I'm gonna stay alive) **

Clary moved her hips and her head synchronously. She started moving her arms in order and in positions she was the only one to know about. Her dance moves were unexpected, original and fierce. She turned around so that her back would face Chris but kept dancing. She was in a trance. He put his warm hands on her hips and followed her rhythm. It didn't worry Clary how close they were dancing, it just felt good so she kept doing it. Clary's bottom was touching Chris' crotch, she noticed. Some drops of sweat appeared on her neck, and his veins seemed more noticeable as if his blood was rushing in his entire body. Clary put her hands in her hair to undo her hairstyle and she was able to put her fingers between her hair locks sensually. It always had this great little effect when dancing.

She though a few seconds and came to the conclusion that she'll try to seduce him a little because why not, he seemed nice and even though she never had a boyfriend, he could be a great one. New music started, Paint In Black by Ciara. As the singer's humming filled the street, Clary layed her back a little on Chris, lifted her head and turned her head to her left to get a better look at him. She met his gaze, his eyes seemed hypnotized. He nervously laughed as for once she intimidated him, she seemed so confident and beautiful. She wasn't as timid as she seemed, a fire was burning inside of her and she couldn't keep it as a secret anymore it was too obvious, and Chris liked it, no he loved it, it just pushed him further into seducing her to have her as a girlfriend.

They kept dancing for at least thirty minutes without stopping only the angels know how they weren't out of breath. Sweat was dripping off their bodies, but desire was dripping out of their eyes. Clary had never felt this way before for anyone, but dancing that close to a man must have awoken some unfamiliar yet pleasing feelings. She wished he kissed her, she didn't have the guts to do it. She already did a lot, she thought. She danced sensually against him during the first date and that's quite the achievement for her, mainly because it was her first date.

"Clary." he took her out of her thoughts. "Come on, let's go eat." Taking his hands away from her hips, she took a deep effect of his warm hands suddenly missing from her body made it feel as if she had stopped breathing.

Chris had guided her far from the party but she could still hear the song a little if she focused. Clary observed the architecture of the buildings around her-it was all about the French colonization legacy. Chris was texting someone and that person appeared in front of them. **Lulach Dell**.


	12. Chapter 12 - The Date Part 2

Hello everyone I would like to clarify something , because I read some comments. Some people haven't read Cassandra Clare's books so they don't know what was invented by me and what belongs to CC's books. I know it might sound stupid that I am making this clarification but still it's important to me. The De Lapsis The Camphbilim, the royals, the Domus, the 5 Kingdoms, a big part of the warlocks were created by me. It's a very big work of researches, I even have a notebook dedicated to this fanfiction, it's one of the reasons why I take time to update, so many places are in fact real ones, the street names, the clothes jewelry names, the restaurant, the food they command is actually on the menu. Everything check out !

I am kind of sad because I feel like I've lost so many readers... I am so sorry for taking a lot of time to update, as I said I am student doing a double licence ( I have the double of hours work a simple student has). Sometimes it's hard to find the right words because I am FRENCH, another factor explaining the late updates.

The last but not the least, I am grateful for my beta **lusifergirl45** , she is fantastic, go check her out please, because she is very talented !!!

As always your comments are very welcome, the feedback is heartwarming, keeps me going sometimes

Don't be afraid I am not the kind of author who abandons their story so don't worry about that ! Stay with me cause I'll always be there.

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"He's here for our next meeting destination." Chris said smiling. Within seconds, Lulach made a portal appear in front of them. They both unconsciously reached for the other's hand. Though jumped in the portal together, Clary still hated traveling through the portals as it made her feel dizzy.

Wherever they were it was a little far from Louisiana because the sun was just setting. The redhead felt some fresh wind touching her skin, the noise of waves hitting the shore surprised her happily, and she became aware of her heels sinking into the sand. A little farther from where they stood, a crowd of people eating and drinking were gathered inside and around a bar restaurant. Even from far away she could sense the great atmosphere.

"Before you ask love, we are in Honolulu in Hawaii and it's around 8 in the evening here."

"I've never travelled that much. You are setting the bar very high with this first date."

"Well I always say when you do something, just do it as if your life depends on it." Chris spoke with a cocky smile. "When I was planning this date, I remembered what you told me in the tapestry room. Your powers were blocked and you only recently learned about your Shadowhunter heritage. So I thought it would be good to eat something mundane."

"Ohh that's very nice of you Chris, thank you. Hum... I am actually pretty hungry…" "Lux ferre forgive me, come on follow me, let's go eat something!"

Clary was so relaxed she decided to take his arm. She realized how cute they were together as a couple even tho he was way more attractive than she was. When they reached the crowded restaurant, numerous pleasant smells of seafood, cooked fish and exotic fruits dominated the air, in capital golden letters "DUKE'S" could be read on the wooden arc that welcomed clients. It was the entry of the restaurant, Clary realized.

They went in the direction of a group of people gathered outside a wooden hut, there were a lot of people wearing summer clothes, all laughing together as if they were all best friends. Clary really liked the atmosphere of it all

"I've already eaten here a few times, the food is great. Trust me." After saying this, Chris asked Clary to wait a few seconds at the entry while he talked to one of the waitresses who called the owner. They seemed to know each other, Clary observed them and wished she could read their lips but she couldn't. It seemed like the owner was impressed by Chris and respected him like how a citizen would respect and admire a soldier in the airport. Clary noted in the back of her head that she needed to know more about who Chris was and what he did. They both joined Clary, then the owner smiled at her.

"You are truly beautiful." he said.

"Thanks but I must return the compliment, you are very handsome" Clary said while looking at the green eyes of the young muscular owner who had perfect matte skin.

"Well, well aren't you a sweetheart?" the owner replied, then turned to Chris and said "I hope she's the one". Chris made a weird face like the owner said something he wasn't supposed too. "Alright, you must be hungry let me lead you to your table." The owner said to change the subject. Clary found that little snippet of conversation very odd, what did he mean by the one? Perhaps, she wasn't the first girl Chris took to this restaurant, the thought of it made her stomach twist, she only met him a few days ago, but she was jealous of girls she didn't know. Once the two were seated at their table, the owner left and a waitress came. She had the same silhouette as Izzy; a very curvaceous body, blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect teeth.

"Hello, my name is Kahoni and I will be your server for the night." she said,smiling before giving them the menus. But once she noticed Chris, her smile changed. It wasn't just friendly and welcoming but something else appeared in her eyes. She shifted her body a little so she could show off her curves, she was trying to seduce him. Chris was actually focused on the menu, so he didn't even notice what was happening, but Clary did and she was a little pissed. It was obvious they were on a date, how could she even think about it? It was so disrespectful, she couldn't believe it but once she looked at Chris she understood a little. His beauty was out of this world, what could she do? People must hit on him all the time, what matters is that he asked Clary on a date and not another girl. Her. So it meant something right? Clary tried to reassure herself. "Kahoni actually means 'kiss' in Hawaiian." she said to Chris while touching her hair.

"Well it's a beautiful name." Chris answered smiling back friendly, "I'll have the coconut ginger braised seafood, what about you, my love?" Clary rejoiced hearing her new nickname, "My Love", leave his lips and the waitress understood the message. Chris made it clear that Clary was his date. She then took a quick look at the menu and said "I'll have the sautéed mac nut and herb crusted, thank you". The waitress wrote the order on her notepad.

"Anything else ?"

"Oh and please we'll have your oldest bottle of dom perignon, thank you." Chris added. The waitress wrote it, then took the menus and disappeared into the crowd of clients and workers. After that last order, Clary realized he just ordered a bottle of wine or champagne, she didn't exactly know but she was sure that it had alcohol in it. She was still a minor, and never had alcohol before. She wondered if she had to tell that to Chris or not.

After seconds of reflection she decided to tell him. She liked him and wanted to have a good relationship with him so lying wasn't part of her plan.

Chris simply said : "Well there's a first time for everything, dear." Clary blushed, so she decided to look elsewhere. Everyone here was wearing summer colorful clothes, after a few seconds of observation Clary realized she was the only teenager here as everyone else was an adult. Then it hit her she didn't even know how old Chris was. She took a glimpse at his body, his face, she thought he must older than she was but how old she didn't know.

"Chris, I never asked you, how old you are actually?"

"That's true we don't know a lot about each other, let's change that. I am 18 right now,I turned last month. What about you?"

Clary looked at her watch, today was the first of December what she thought was right. "In a week I believe i'll be 16 yo, the 8th December."

"Oh are you going to celebrate your birthday?"

"Hum usually what I do is spend the day with Simon. He always has something planned for me, like last year he brought me to the New York Comic Con. We had so much fun that day. And the night I celebrate it with my family, we usually eat dinner outside in a way too luxurious restaurant, I always say it's not necessary but my mom insists all the time like it's tradition or something. Then back home we cut a cake and they give me gifts, I always feel bad to receive things and not give back so I buy them gifts too and we exchange gifts like for Christmas. Then we…"

Clary stopped. She didn't know if what she was about to say would make her weird or something. She looked at Chris to see him waiting attentively. He needed to know her next words, so she gave in. "Then that day and only that day I sleep with my parents, my mom and my step dad, and again my mother insist every year, for my mom it's a cute peaceful tradition that remind us we are united as a family", Clary now stared at Chris, to see his reaction maybe he would be shocked, disgusted or creeped by that. But no he wasn't, he simply looked normal, it was obvious for Clary to understand that he didn't see any problems with what she said. She was so relieved because when she told Simon he reacted in a very different way and was a little concerned. "Okay then, now you tell me how you celebrate you birthday?"

"Well it's not very extraordinary, my father throws a party, family and friends come to celebrate, dance, eat. The night there's other forms of festivities you don't want to know about, it's not interesting." Clary was about to insist but was cut off by Chris asking her "You talked about someone called Simon, who is that?'

"He is just the best kind of friend you could ever ask for, I met him when I was very young and since then we became inseparable, I could take a bullet for him. He is the best. I didn't text him after the accident, he must be crazy worried." Clary felt guilty for not telling him about what happened in her life lately, he must be worried because of her actions. It just made her feel bad about herself. What kind of friend was she ? But with all the things that happened she hardly had the time to think about any of that. "I'll text him tonight." She added.

"Well that's pretty amazing what you have with him, I don't think I would be able to take a bullet for anyone or maybe I haven't met that person yet."

Clary furrowed her eyebrows "What about you father, won't you take a bullet for him?"

"I have a complicated relationship with my father. Sometimes everything is great then other times it can be very hard. As I said, it's complicated." Chris seemed sad but acted like he was ok. It made Clary's heart melt.

"Chris, I wanted to ask you why were you surprised that I didn't know your name? As if I was supposed to know it even know we never met."

"It's just that usually most of the Shadowhunters know me.. because of my job."

"Ohh I wanted to ask you what do you do exactly?" Clary immediately asked.

"What I do is hum… quite boring. I visit some institutes, then observe everything and make a report. I observe things like the education given to the Shadowhunters, the way the family in charge of the institutes organizes it, the monthly given food menu, the budget going into the clothes, weapons and the means of transport for the nephilims… I attend to meetings to find better ways to deal with the institute's managing."

"That's quite a lot for an 18 years old, don't you think ?"

"Well, I know at this age mundane go to class and sometimes get a part time job. But for nephilims it's pretty different, we are trained at a very young age and for us working hard is just… normal I guess."

"It must be hard, I don't know if I would have liked having that kind of childhood. God sorry I make it sound like you had an awful childhood, but I don't know if you had one…oh crap I am nervous that explains why I am saying all of this." Clary blushed uncontrollably from shame. They were so focused on each other they didn't notice the waitress that came back to give them their orders. Sweet-smelling odors appeared, Clary decided to guess where they came from to hide from her embarrassment because her last comment. She immediately noticed the smell of coconut and shrimp then something else was mixed to it, _rice yes it was rice,_ the girl congratulated herself internally. Then decided to stop and to focus on what was actually happening, the date!

"Don't worry dear I'll confess to you the entirety of my childhood when time comes." Chris blinked at her with that sentence. Another reason for her to blush, she couldn't understand how she could be so confident in New Orleans, whereas now she was so nervous. Her stomach made some noise to remind her how hungry she was, she couldn't wait another minute. She devoured her plate completely forgetting she was on a date. When she realized what she had done it was to late. A small giggle escaped Chris' perfect lips, he looked at Clary's mouth, then reached for a small sauce stain near her bottom lip, erased it with his thumb and licked it clean with his tongue.

"Hum… let me guess, butter and lemon sauce right ? Absolutely delicious." Clary watched him in disbelief, then started laughing at the whole situation.

"I am sorry as I said before I was pretty hungry"

"Clary don't you ever apologize to me for being yourself, please. That's what I like about you. You are not acting or lying to please me unlike many peop-..." Chris cut himself off abruptly as if he had said too much. Clary noticed that and it hadn't been the first time he did that. She wrote a mental note in her head to discover why he did that, what was he hiding? Clary finished her plate slowly while Chris finished his own, using his knife and fork with grace and precision. As always Clary felt insecure next to these nephilims who did everything so perfectly. After about fifteen minutes, when they were totally done eating, Chris took the dom perignon which was buried in a pool of ice cubes within a silver bucket to keep it fresh. They were in Hawaii after all.

Clary realized they were many people dining around them. If the bottle was champaign, opening it will make it pop and everyone would be interrupted and would look at them. Clary wasn't the socially-awkward kind, but more than 50 people looking at her at the same time while she is dining with a guy who looks like a model would make her feel a little uncomfortable. She closed her eyes and waited for it to happen, but no sound could be heard, she opened her eyes to see Chris pouring the champagne into their flutes, she realised now that he had the professional's technique to open a bottle gently. She was simply more impressed by him, how the hell could he be so good at everything he does? Damn nephilims. Then Clary remembered about the surname he gave her on the phone. "Chris, why did you call me primus aurum, last time on the phone?" Clary couldn't say she knew where that surname was coming from because she promised to Izzy not to tell she was in the Domus. Chris coughed hearing that question as if he was surprised.

"Lux ferre, you have a great memory for someone who doesn't speak Latin, Primus Aurum means the first gold, Lilith's hair, a simple reference to your beautiful shiny ginger hair, dear." And with that the girl's face turned crimson. "Clary please take your flute and enjoy this liquid perfection".

She wasn't sure how she'd react to alcohol, she guessed there wasn't a lot in Champaign but still this was a new thing, so she was scared. _Okay just do it, drink it's not a big deal._ She took her first sip, she didn't quite expect this, it was very sweet and a little bubbly, it had a pleasing mouthfeel because of the aromas of anise and ginger gradually mixed with fleshier fruits, pear and mango. She immediately took another sip then another one and before she realizes it, her flute was empty but she craved for more and Chris knew it because it was exactly what he felt the first time he drank this ethereal beverage, he obliged and poured some more in her flute.

"Chris. This !" she said holding her flute, "Might be what the angels drink" she said laughing, "it's literally the best liquor I've ever tasted in my entire life."

"I am glad you relish it this much. You know what let's go outside to see the sunset." he stood up, "Oh, and take your flute with you." Clary did as said, then followed Chris to the way out, but was stopped by the waitress Kahoni. **"Sir, I am afraid you can't leave right now."**


	13. Chapter 13 - The Date Part 3

Sorry sweeties but this is **THE LAST CHAPTER**. I am kidding don't worry, what I mean by that, is, this is the last chapter of its kind. I made a lot of researches lately about mistakes writers make, about improving your writing. And I was shook realizing the number of mistakes I made and I am still making unconsciously. So I am going to make more researches to improve my writing style to give you better content. **lusifergirl45** was great editing this chapter, truly the best beta I could ask for.

Don't forget I **love your feedback** & I read all your comments. **Enjoy** this chapter !

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"Sir, I am afraid you can't leave right now."

Clary got suspicious and was looking for ways out, in case something was about to happen. It's a reflex she learned from Luke, as a cop they were is these kind of dangerous situations. When they went out, like a criminal Luke arrested, looking for revenge. Tried to attack Jocelyn once when they were buying tickets for "The Phantom of the Opera" at Broadway. Luke had to fight him while Clary and Jocelyn ran in the opposite direction.

Right now Clary was on edge, why would they be stopped from leaving?

"Oh silly me, I forgot to pay the bill, it happens to me all the time." Chris said laughing, Kahoni showed them the way to the reception. She calculated the total with the computer connected to the cash register as Chris took out his wallet, and Clary managed to have a view of the computer by looking at the reflection of a window near the get an idea of how much it all cost to maybe pay everything on the next date if there was one.

-COCONUT GINGER BRAISED SEAFOOD 27 $

-SAUTÉED MAC NUT AND HERB CRUSTED 32 $

-DOM PÉRIGNON 250 $

TOTAL = 309 $

Seeing the price of the bottle, the girl got closer to the window. To make sure it was real. _What the hell? The bottle is so expensive!_

"Clary could you wait for me near the entrance of the restaurant please?" Chris asked.

"Hum... yeah of course" Clary answered. Why did he wanted her to stay away for the payment ? He obviously didn't want her to know how much it all cost. He was either courteous or lying. After what she discovered about her mother, she didn't want to be surprised again like that. Chris sometimes seems like he is hiding a part of the truth when he talks to her. So Clary walked through the crowded restaurant. She stood in the entrance, looked at a window nearby to see Chris' reflection in order to better understand his demand. Through the window, Kahoni was asking something to Chris, he answered before putting his hand in his pocket to reach for something. She must have asked him how he wanted to pay, cash or credit card. Chris took out a golden looking card out of his wallet. It shined fiercely, it was made of metal. _How could a credit card be made out of metal? Did that even exist?_. Once Chris finished paying he joined her.

"Let's sit on the sand, to enjoy the sunset." he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. That was a first. Warmth spread in her chest, and her heart beat quicker. They were walking side by side. Clary's heels sinking in the sand while fresh ocean air hugged her body. The background noise was made of ocean waves hitting the sand, fading away only to come back. The sky was a palette of light blue, purple, orange, yellow and pale pink. The air was pure and refreshing. Chris stopped, unzipped his windbreaker and took it off. Under that he was wearing a grey Ralph Lauren shirt that was tight-fitting with long slim polo fit complemented his torso. His muscled arms, torso, and... _What he even has 8 pack abs, unbelievable!_ The man in question placed his windbreaker on the sand and sat next to it on the sand. He tapped on his windbreaker twice to make her to sit on it. Heat enveloped her face, at his gesture.

She turned around to get a last look at the restaurant. It was the first time she came here and might be the last one. An unfamiliar figure stood out of the crowd, looking in their direction. Too far away to actually see what his face looks like. The only thing she was certain about was the color of his hair. Blond. It sent chills down her spine. Was someone spying on them ? _No, it's impossible. I've to stop being so paranoid_ , she thought.

She sat quickly. Clary admired the sky, how beautiful it was. The sun setting came with many warm colours. The girl filled her lungs with fresh air. Placed her hand on the sand, grabbed a handful of it, opened it and let the sand escape slowly. A reminder of her old life, slipping away from her without being able to stop any of it. She was powerless.

The sun was setting, the air was cooler. She was only wearing a camisole. She shivered and used her hands to rub her arms repeatedly. Chris turned his head in her direction. Took something out of his pocket. It was a long cylindrical metal stick. The same object Izzy and her mom used to make runes. But his was different from theirs. Five unique symbols were aligned on it, a metal feather topped the objet.

"Do you want to activate your warmth rune?" After asking the question he shook his head no. "Wait no forget what I said, Shadowhunters have to go through some kind of lessons to get their runes. I don't want you to get in troubles so we have to do something with the means available."

He turned his back to Clary, lifted his shirt, used the instrument to draw a symbol on his body. Once, done he placed it back in his pocket. Set his right arm around her, rubbed her arm. His body discharged warm air. He must have activated the warmth rune he talked about. The heat radiating from him filled her entire touch of cold air was a distant memory. Clary relaxed and enjoyed the warmth, moving closer to him. Resting her head on a part of his torso. It was a bold move for the girl but she wasn't thinking straight. She was simply enjoying the moment and his warm body.

"Better?"

"Way better" She whispered wholly relaxed. "I wish I had my sketchbook and pencils, the view is magnificent"

"You draw? Well that is quite impressive. One day perhaps I'll get the chance to see some of your drawings?"

"Yes and hum... I am not used to showing my drawings to people aside from my mom, Luke and Simon. But I'm sure one day maybe I'll show you."

Chris simply smiled.

All the stress Clary had after leaving New Orléans was long gone. If she had the power to stop time, she would. To enjoy this moment forever. It was comfortable; the view of the sunset, the fine sand below them, the noises of the waves. Chris' proximity and warmth was a bonus. If this was a dream Clary would never wake up.

"Clary, can I ask you something?"

"Hum… yes I guess"

"During the little moment we spent together in the tapestries room. You told me your powers being blocked and some warlocks were supposed to take of the spell. How did that go?" Before Clary could answer Chris blurted out "It's just literally the first time I ever heard of something like this. I didn't even know it was possible to do such a thing! Why were your powers even blocked in the first place?" he paused. "I am sorry I am being a little intrusive you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

At that specific moment Clary was so relaxed in his arms. The place they were in was so marvelous. She could tell him anything. She trusted him. Even know her education taught her not too. But she was resting her head on him. A sign of that trust given too quickly according to her inner principles. But she couldn't fight it.

"The ritual was horrible, no words could describe the amount of pain I have been through during that process. After that I slept for two days straight. I think I was in a coma or something. My powers were blocked because…" Then Clary recalled the conversation she had with Luke in the common hall, what he said. "My powers were blocked to protect me. Don't even ask me why because I couldn't tell you, I don't know the answer."

Chris held her closer to him, she unconsciously needed it.

"Do you want some?" Chris asked showing the bottle. Recalling the price, she opened her mouth to ask why he bought such an expensive bottle. But stopped herself otherwise he would understand she managed to see the price. Even though he asked her to wait at the entrance. Moreover she loved the taste of that champagne so she simply answered "sure" while handing her flute. Only a few seconds past between the moment the liquid touched her lips and the moment her flute was empty again. Chris laughed, "I knew you would love it" he said smiling. Clary felt the bubbles in her brain and smiled.

"How did you know?"

"This is my favorite bottle and I knew you had the best taste considering you accepted to go on a date with me."

Clary giggled hearing his answer. She was light in her stomach and chest. She never wanted it to go away.

"You have the answer for everything don't you?" She asked rhetorically. Smiling, she played with a loose string on his shirt. She found she didn't have anything holding her back from touching him.

Chris leaned back, to be completely lying on the sand, therefore, Clary did the same and was now resting next to him. Her right hand found its way on his left pectoral, as her head was resting on his torso she could feel him breathing. She was so close to him. The sensation of safety and warmth was familiar, something only her mom was able to give her. But not anymore. His perfume was strong but not stilling. She appreciated the freshness of it. His polo was soft, his breathing soothing, the warmth and waves relaxing. Clary closed her eyes and started to doze off on him. Once he noticed, he stroked her hair gently.

Clary opened her eyes slowly. It was dark. What was happening ? when did she fell asleep ? Where was she ? _Yes the date, wait... am I back at the institute in my room?_

"Hello sleepyhead, did you sleep well?" a familiar low pitched voice asked.

"Chris? Oh! Did I fall asleep on you? I am so sorry, that's so embarrassing."

"It was a honor for me to be you pillow, truly. How tired were you? You were asleep for about 3 hours."

"I don't know, it's just the first time I don't have a nightmare waking me up, I guess that's why I slept so much."

"Glad you slept well then." Clary couldn't see him correctly but she knew he was smiling, she heard it. "Alright let's go."

Clary was hit by a wave of sadness hearing that sentence, it was already over, she didn't want to go back to her new life in the institute. She was happy here, with Chris, and she wished the moment could last longer. But she had to stand, ' _you can't always have everything you want in your life'_ it's something Luke often said when she was disappointed. Clary slowly stood and picked Chris' jacket up, shook it in order to remove the sand. Chris stood quickly, she handed him the piece of clothing.

Because it was dark, Chris took her hand. How he was able to see was a mystery. _He is Shadowhunter, that's how_. It must be one of his runes. After walking for 15 minutes he stopped and took his phone out. It was the end of the date, he was obviously about to contact Lulach. To go back to New York. He turned his lamp torch application on. Took out his rune instrument.

"I know what I said about runes and lessons. But I need to draw two runes on you, because of where we're going there is no other away. Are you okay with that?"

"Why do I need runes to travel through the portal ?"

"Who talked about a portal, the date isn't over yet !"

"Really!?" Clary asked happily, showing too much excitement. " I mean yes you can draw runes on me, if it's the only way."

"Alright this..." he showed the rune instrument "is called a stele. I have to draw the night vision rune, and the climbing rune. Where do you want me to draw them?"

"On my... stomach? I don't want them to be seeable when I wear dresses or summer clothes, it's just all new to me and I'm not used to it yet. Oh and I've got the climbing rune already." Clary lifted the camisole, for him to have a view of her stomach. He saw the climbing rune and decided to draw the new rune symmetrically to that one. He drew the night vision rune which was a thick circle with a smaller circle in the middle of it.

"Fair enough."

Just like the first time, Clary enjoyed the feeling of the stele on her skin, it was warm, invigorating and somehow pure. That might be her favorite part of being a shadowhunter. Chris managed to put the bottle in his trouser pocket, albeit the flutes were gone.

"Alright we are good to go!" Chris said, putting his right foot and hands on the cliff standing in front of them. Now that Clary could see with the night vision rune, she looked aghast at the rock. No. It was an actual cliff, that he started climbing. _Oh my god this is insane!_ The girl thought to herself. She was going to climb a freaking cliff with heels. Chris was way ahead of her so she started climbing too, trying to copy Chris moves. This was a cliff and not a library shelf like the one she climbed to enter the Domus, but it felt the same, the rune made it so easy. The cliff was tremendous, but thanks to the rune they both took approximately 25 minutes to get to the top. Chris reached the top first and helped her out a little.

"Come on sit down next to me" Chris said sitting cross-legged. They were so high up there that the winds were stronger. Clary was cold again, shivers dominated her. Hoping Chris was still warm, she sat right next to him. He felt like a warm sunlight during a winter day. He held her closer. _This is a strange place for a date_ Clary thought. Maybe Chris liked heights, who knows? Chris took a sip of the champagne directly from the bottle, "It tastes different from up there, because of the air, here try it."

Clary took the bottle, had a sip. It was easier to distinguish the tastes. Being able to do so, made her appreciate and enjoy the beverage even more. She eagerly took another sip, again and again. But she wasn't quick enough to drink all of the liquid in her mouth, some of it was poured on the bottom part of the camisole.

"Oh god, no no no, look what I've done. It's not even mine! My friend is going to kill me!"

"Wait let me see…" Chris looked closer, touched the fabric, inspected the piece of clothing and the stain. It clicked, he understood something, he was about to ask a question but stopped himself. His hands traveled to her back, he placed them just below the thicker chest part of the camisole. He held two parts of the fabric in his hands symmetrically, and ripped them from behind to the front. Clary inhaled in shock. These parts must have been made separately, taking one part from the other was normal.

Left with a lacy amber crop top. She screamed, "What the hell ? Are you insane? This isn't even mine. Izzy is going to kill me."

"Well I don't know who this Izzy is or how she got this camisole in the first place. But don't worry, this is a detachable part, you can sew it back in. Remember my job? I studied the royalty in order to be a good diplomat. So I know about their clothes being multifunctional." The girl relaxed.

"Okay then, I guess I could clean the stain then sew it back. But Chris could you please keep the secret about who's camisole this is? I don't want my friend or me to get in trouble for this."

"Clary, it's fine, I am not a snitch. And you look way too beautiful in this." He said pointing at the crop top. Clary giggled and thanked him. For once she wasn't self-aware of her body. Or ashamed of her tummy being at the sight of anyone. How was that possible for a girl who complexed over her body for so many years ? Was it an effect of the champagne she drank ?

The top of the cliff was uneven and there was nothing unexpected. Why were they there?

"Did we got here for the view ?" Clary said watching with her nocturnal vision, the waves hitting the shore with power. The sound of the waves was loud yet they were far away from them.

"In a certain way, yes." Chris said smiling at her, she smiled back but didn't understand what he meant.

"What do you mean by 'in a certain way' ?"

"I want to show you something, that's why we are here."

"Alright then, show me" Clary said in disbelief, what could he show her that she hasn't seen yet ? She was on top of the cliff with him, there's nothing she couldn't see.

"For that you need a rune…" he told her, taking out his stele.

As an answer Clary simply lifted her camisole, Chris kneeled to be more comfortable drawing it. He put his left hand on her hip to be steady. Used his right hand to draw two symmetrical triangles joined by their top pointy end, an infinity sign was between the triangles. It could represent a never ending hourglass. Once he was done, he turned around lifted his shirt and activated his own rune. Why was he hiding from Clary while doing it, was a mystery, perhaps he was bashful.

"Is this another vision rune? Because I don't see anything…"

"It's a vision and accessibility rune, it's quite the thing actually. All young Shadowhunters are impatient to get this one." He got a closer to her. "Clary, now, we have to jump from the cliff to get access to where I want us to go. There is no other way in, I really want to take you there. I know this all new to you, but please trust me."

"Alright, hum, can we at least hold hands please? That will help for sure."

"I am sorry Clary but we can't, there are certain rules to get there. We can't hold hands because Shadowhunters aren't supposed to be afraid of anything."

"Oh really ? Hum... okay, it seems like I don't have a choice then." Her throat was dry, heartbeat quickened, hands were sweating. She was scared.

"Wait, Clary, I know it must be scary for you so there is something we could do, not hold hands but I could literally hold you. I know it might sound weird that the rules allow this, but some Shadowhunters parents have to carry their kids when they are too young."

Clary took a few steps, got to the end of the cliff, looked at the ocean. They were high and she had a view of it. Unlike the time, she jumped in the void to enter the Domus. That's the reason why she was scared, and the longer she looked, the higher it seemed.

"Okay, okay." she wiped the sweat off of her hands and onto her clothes. "I would prefer that please."

"Alright then, jump in my arms or straddle me if you prefer." he said winking at her.

To get some momentum, she ran in his direction and jumped in his arms. She locked her legs together and put her arms around his neck. Her flower was pressed against his manhood, he wasn't having a hard-on but she could still feel him. And to be honest, she did it on purpose not jumping too high or too low, to be able to feel him. Being this close to him, being able to feel his every members. Satisfied her deep desires, emerging because of the champagne. Their faces were a few inches apart, his warm breathing caressed her skin. She smiled shyly.

"I'm ready."

"Okay, you can close your eyes if you want to."

But Clary didn't because she was in his arms she was safe. Witness everything that was about to happen was her goal. Chris walked a few steps back, looked straight ahead, and put his legs in a running position. He stopped then looked at Clary.

"Wait, before I jump I want to make sure, you holding me tight enough. The last thing we want is for us to separated during the fall."

Clary nodded her head in agreement. Chris started jumping in place and her body rubbed up against his in ways she'd never experienced before... Their bodies were so close, how big his length was, wasn't a mystery for her anymore. She was sure her face was bright red by now due to the increase of blood flow. Clary's breasts jiggled in rhythm of the jumps and she moved to stop it. She leaned forward and held him tightly, breathing deep. She inhaled his scent. It was a drug to her.

"Okay, I think we're good." He ran. His pace was unnaturally fast for running such a short distance. At the last time he turned around, his back now facing the void. Her hair flew all over the place, air filled her ears. It was a deafening sound, the wind made her eyes water and heart beat wildly. She held him as tight as she possibly could. She closed her eyes and a scream escaped her lips.

" **Hold on, it's almost over."**


	14. Chapter 14 - Quīnque Trahere Statio

Hey sorry for the late update like always, hope you enjoy it. Do you feel like the date is taking too long like too many chapters ? Do you see a difference in the writting style ? And for every reader that asks me this question, **YES I will finish this story** , I am not the kind of heartless author who dares not to finish their fanfic lol. So stick around it will be worth it, I promise, this is a long journey lol. A big thanks to **lucifergirl45** (check out her fanfics as well please). I love the **FEEDBACK** , so don't hesitate.

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" **Hold on, it's almost over"**

Clary, still on top of Chris, moved her head to get a better view of the waves. She was now 50 feet above the water. _I have to hold my breath._ She took her right arm from his neck to pinch her nose. Closing her eyes, she waited for them to plunge in the water.

The sensation was undescriptable, it was like going through some sort of energy dome and it didn't hurt a bit. She was still in the same position and as she opened her eyes to see Chris, staring at her, he wasn't holding his breath nor swimming, they were going down. He simply let himself sink. Clary panicked, if they went deeper, they would die. She separated herself from him, moving her arms and legs in uneven motions. She wasn't the best swimmer, and it was worse because of the champagne she drunk. The liquor made it harder to focus. As she was getting farther away from the bottom of the sea, something grabbed her ankle. It was Chris looking confused, which made her stop swimming, Chris got on her level by moving his feet.

"You are not in danger with me, you can breath and you don't have to swim."

 _What the actual fuck, how is he able to talk underwater and breath?_ Clary took her hand away from her nose, fresh salty air filled her lungs. She was actually able to breath under water, Clary noticed they were moving, they were going down as if there was gravity.

"We have to go to the bottom of the ocean, let yourself sink, don't worry you are okay."

Clary did as he said as she reached for his hand. Everything around them seemed unreal, there was water surrounding them but their clothes, hair and body were dry. It didn't make any sense. They could breath, there was gravity, and the water wasn't drenching them.

They reached the bottom of the sea. Green and byzantine ocean plants surrounded them, bluebanded goby and queen angelfish were feeding themself on the plants. It felt like a scene from a couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Come on, it's in this direction." Chris led the way, holding her hand.

An impressive circular building made of transparent glass walls stood in the middle of nowhere. They walked in its direction, they were almost at the entrance but at the last moment Chris turned in a corner so they were hiding behind a big plant.

"Wait what are you doing, aren't we going inside, are you ashamed of me?" The drunk Clary asked.

"Blasphemy, I could never be ashamed of you. We are going inside but first we need runes. Shapeshifting runes." Chris took out his stele.

"Uhh wait shapeshifting. To,like, take the appearance of someone else, why do you want that?"

"Well remember my job, I am actually supposed to stay in New York until the end of my tasks there. I can't be travelling, my job is serious and so are my superiors… Are you comfortable with the shapeshifting rune?"

"Yes I guess, I don't want you to get in troubles because we wouldn't be able to see each other again, right." She giggled and held the top of his windbreaker, smiling, she smelled his perfume. Drunk Clary was flirty and playful. "You smell so good, I love it." Chris smiled. " **The spirit is willing but the body is weak, seduce him he will fall into temptation** ", a small, delicate, soprano voice said in Clary's head. She decided to listen to the advise, the voice in her head always helped her. Even with her heels, he was taller than her, she reached for his neck and left a few kisses on it, as sensually as she could then giggled again. She lifted her head, then moved closer to his right ear, "I am ready, draw the rune." She whispered a few centimeters from his ear, he got some goosebumps. It worked. She hid her victorious smile and shifted her body. "Draw the rune above my right hip." Chris kneeled, put his left hand on her skin, caressing the spot he was about to draw on.

"Wait, first, who do you want to become? Do you know any highly born Shadowhunter like one of the Shadowhunter noble families" Clary was confused. "In other words do you know a member from one of the institute's responsable families ?"

"Yes, Izzy, Izzy Lightwood, she is a friend and her family is responsible of the New York institute."

"Okay, close your eyes and think about, her voice, her personality, her laugh, her body." Clary did while Chris draw the shapeshifting rune, it was a triangle inside of a circle which was inside of a square, with two crossing lines traversing them.

"Done, open your eyes" She didn't feel her body change, but she could definitely see it now. Her breast was three times bigger, her hips were wider, each part of her body had muscles, black wavy hair locks were dangling on her crop top. Weirdly the crop top seemed to still fit her but her boobs were now very noticeable. Clary liked this body, it was beautiful, it didn't have all the flaws her original body had. She had curves and generous attributs. She raised her arms, her skin was covered in many runes, Izzy's runes. She was a true Shadowhunter fighter, her body was the proof of it.

"Alright my turn, do you know if Izzy has a boyfriend ?"

"What? Why are you asking, do you want to ask her out?" The drunk insecure Clary asked, afraid.

"Lux ferre, no Clary." Chris laughed. "I am asking to transform myself into him. I have to transform into someone Izzy knows or it will be weird if I transform into someone from the Mexico institute, that she never met before. If someone sees this unlikely strange duo, it could create suspicions, they could stop us, check our identities and understand we are shape shifting."

"Okay, I get it, but I don't know if she has a boyfriend, I never asked her."

"Alright, I believe I saw her brother once, Alec, I'll transform into him." He turned around, lowered his trousers and used the stele on him. As always Clary couldn't see it, he had this damned habit to hide it when he used the stele on him, Clary found that suspicious. She saw his body morph into another body, Alec's. Thank the gods, they were approximately the same height so the clothes were perfect on his new body.

He turned around, he looked so much like Izzy, he was as equally beautiful as her. They has to be fraternal twins, Clary had some questions for Izzy. Chris moved closer to Clary, caressed her cheek with his hand, his faced reacted as if he sensed something.

"What's wrong? Am I too beautiful for you?" Normal Clary would never say that, but the combination of her drunkenness and her new body made her talk without any filter. She was confident and knew what she wanted, nothing could stop that.

"Yes Izzy is beautiful but I prefer your beauty Clary, when I turned into Alec I felt a connection with you, when I touched you it confirmed my theory. We share a bond, the _parabatai_ one."

Clary confused as always about the Shadowhunter world, she asked what it was. Chris pointed at the rune in between her breast.

"This is the parabatai rune, I have one too as Alec it must be on my chest just like yours. Before turning 18, it is possible for a Shadowhunter to bound with another through a sacred ritual. They become warriors who fight together as lifelong partners, bound together by oath, regardless of their gender. Parabatai can draw each other's strength during battle, they can sense each other's life force. Their bond is not reflected only in their closeness and willingness to lay down their lives for one another, they vow to travel where the other travels, and indeed, to be buried in the same place. The bond enhances the natural feelings of love and friendship that already exist between the pair."

"Whaou that sounds like a serious long-term commitment, can parabatai be involved in love affairs? Let's say I want to have a parabatai, can it be with someone I am in love with, because according to your definition, that could make a love relationship even stronger like literal soulmates."

"Well actually the only bond forbidden to the parabatai is the romantic bond, because of how strong and intense the bond is, it creates inescapable tragedies, both of heartache and magical disaster. It's forbidden by the law for parabatais to be in a romantic relationship with each other."

"That's sad. I think it would be such a deep and fervent relationship. That's a waste of rune bonding." Clary laughed hysterically at her own joke.

"You had a lot of champagne, didn't you ?"

"Me? Nooo… Alright, now that we turned into the Lightwoods, not to get recognised, can we go inside to do whatever we're here for?"

"Yeah let's go, walk right by my side, don't get lost." Chris now Alec, winked at her.

Clary/Izzy followed Chris/Alec closely, they entered the busy circular building. The hall was bigger than it seemed. Five long silver steel train were parked in the middle of the hall. People were in a rush. Shadowhunters with runes, warlocks with a one particular strange and unique trait, _beautiful thin humans with leaf and flowers tattoos; they might be faeries, muscular humans; they might be werewolves and very pale human; they might be vampires,_ Clary theorized remembering Izzy words _._ To get to the trains, people had to go through some security checkpoints held by…

"What? Are these actual freaking mermaids?" Clary screamed surprised. Some people around turned to look at her, and she felt embarrassed.

"They are sirens, they are the only one swimming here, the gravity doesn't affect them. They are beautiful, have strong powerful scaly tails and amazing hypnotising voices. The sirens are actually the staff here, they're the security and they make sure everything is up and running. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you, we are in the Quīnque Trahere Statio (Five Trains Station), we're taking the train to go somewhere you've never been before. Come on we first have to go through a security puffer machine, it will check our identities and check if we carry hidden weapons. It can't detect the shapeshifting rune so don't worry."

Clary/Izzy followed Chris/Alec to the nearest security puffer machine, they were waiting in line behind three shadowhunters and a couple of warlocks. The security guard was a blonde siren, with brown hazel eyes, generous breast enveloped in a red scaly bra which matched her crimson sheen scaly tail. After a good ten minutes, it was finally their turn, the siren did two movements with her tail and she was now facing Clary. Chris looked a little stressed, did the siren knew they shapeshifted?

"Hey ma beauté, I missed you so much." The siren said with a strong french accent, before kissing her deeply on the mouth. Drunk Clary was surprised but pleased, _the siren thinks she is kissing Izzy, I have to kiss her back so everything seems normal._ Clary put her right arm around the siren's waist, to pull her closer to her own body. They boobs were literally rubbing, while their mouths shared a passionate longing tongue kiss. The siren's two hands travelled to the back of Clary/Izzy's back to grab a handful of her ass which made Clary moan in surprise. The siren bit the lower lip of Clary/Izzy before putting an end to their heated moment.

"I missed you too." Clary said smiling while playing with her dark Izzy hair.

"Oh and you must be Alec, hi I am Chloe Delacroix, I've heard a lot about you."

Chris stood there shook from what he just witnessed.

"Alec, say something, I am sorry he can be shy sometimes." Clary improvised to save their cover.

"Yeah, hum sorry. Nice to meet you Chloe." Chris/Alec said trying to get a hold of himself.

Chloe smiled, "So where do you want to go?"

"We're heading to the Antiquus Purgatorium."

"Oh lucky you ! Alright you have to board the second train then."

Clary was staring at the beautiful french siren and smiling. Chris not noticing, turned around and walked in the direction of the train, Clary followed him a few seconds later.

"I miss your body on top of mine, don't forget to call me, ma beauté" Chloe shouted as they were leaving. Clary/Izzy turned around and winked.

"That was quite something, I am impressed." Chris said looking ahead.

"Yeah me too, Izzy seems pretty sexually active, that's impressive but I am not surprised I mean Izzy is a beautiful young women. I am sure she is very confident with herself and her actions."

"You seemed to enjoy that little moment."

Drunk Clary sensed some jealousy, and wanted to tease him a little. "Yes I did enjoy it, but don't worry we'll have our moments too." She said slapping his ass.


	15. Chapter 15 - The Luxuria High Tower

Well sweaties, it's been a long time ! A lot has happened in my life, I decided to change my orientation concerning the studies I am doing. I am going to focus more on one license only. The holidays have started in France just like in many other countries lol, I am now in Strasbourg near Germany. The second day I was there a got a job as a waitress. It's amazing right ? Well no it isn't lol, because I have to much work to do like take orders serve food (which is normal) but I also have to restock the 5 fridges with cans and bottles, I have to clean the coffee machine, the coffee grinder machine, the microwave. I have to sweep the two big rooms and mop them, clean every tables. Carry the tables and chairs from the terrasse to inside. Do the « couverts » it's folding the napkins in a certain way around a fork and a knife. Oh yeah and clean the toilets.

I do 7 hours a day, 6 days a week. And my shifts are placed terribly so I don't have any free time. Okay enough with me complaining, here is the fanfic. I actually have a new beta working with me, so now I have two. I actually felt the need to get a second beta, because our community got a bit larger (people following commenting and reading the story). I don't want to disappoint anyone, because I am not pleased with my writing, it's not good enough. So a huge thanks to lusifergirl45 and forever fun and young.

* * *

Clary could sense jealousy coming off of Chris and wanted to tease him a little, feeling bubbles of courage pushed her from doing things she normally wouldn't have. "Yes I did enjoy it, but don't worry we'll have our moments too." She said slapping his ass.

Clary, excited to get on the train, walked faster than Chris. Once she was in front of the last wagons door she stopped and observed the other train cars, as she waited for Chris. There were so many silver steel wagons, but the first one was different; huge compared to the other wagons, it was entirely black with some white spots and red vertical dribbling lines all over its surface.

"Chris, what's up with the first wagon, why is it so different?" Clary pointed at it.

"Only the Royals travel in it, it belongs to them."

"The royal's wagon looks so spacious it's a damn shame we can't go in." Clary replied, anger evident in her voice. She followed him inside of the last car. "You know what? What the hell is so special about them. Are they so privileged they can't even travel with other people? It's so unfair. I never liked what monarchies and royal families represented, even before I learned about this Shadowhunter world. I've always hated the damn Queen; you know Elizabeth fucking II." Being drunk prevented her from filtering her thoughts; she was speaking truthfully.

"Oh lux ferre, I didn't know you hated them so much. Can you tell me why?"

"Well I don't know much about the royal family from here, I mean about the Camphbilim. But in my history class I studied other countries' monarchies, and I've done some research myself. Actually, I've done a lot of research on various subjects. My mom taught me that you can't criticize something you don't know. She hated ignorance and always repeated 'ignorance was the root and stem of all evil'."

"I agree with that, your mother was quite a woman."

"Yes she was." She continued. "A monarchy is outdated and most importantly undemocratic. People don't get to choose who rules over them, it clearly goes against modern western democratic values. Which I clearly have, being born in the human world unlike you, who was born in... this world." She added, gesturing around them to emphasize her point.

"This lack of democracy enhances class discrimination, because most of the time with a monarchy you have a class system, a certain hierarchy, with the royals on top then the nobles, after that or on an equal level, the church or whatever religion of that country, then finally we have the populace. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but I am pretty damn sure I'm in the last category, and in this form of government we are the ones who suffer." She spat the last word, referring to her own sufferance.

Taking a deep breath, she continued "Power is centralized in the position of the monarch, investing excessive power in a single person is obviously dangerous. Moreover the entire system only works if the monarch is competent. What makes him competent, birthright ?" She scoffed " Breeding that 'supposedly' produces superior human beings whom are literally born to rule? If the monarch rules by divine rights, what can stop him? Nothing. Tyranny is easier to form in the structure of a monarchy." It seemed the alcohol helped her gather her thoughts, as she was more focused than she'd ever been. She smirked, satisfied by her strong arguments. Clary liked being right.

"Well, for someone who wasn't raised by nephilims, I have to say, I'm very impressed by your knowledge. And everything you said is true, but it only applies for mundane monarchies." He paused, letting his opposition sink in before continuing.

"Our monarchy can't be outdated, because it's all we've known. Nephilims, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, fairies, sirens, angels, demons, all of them accepted the Camphbilim Dynasty as their rulers." He looked at her.

"We do live in a form of democracy." He smiled " The populace, as you called them, are allowed to give suggestions to change the kingdoms. All of them are taken into account by the Kingdoms Congressman. They are the ones who make and abrogate law. They debate and represent each creature of the populace. So the populace is actually the one who makes most of the laws and they get to decide what world we live in. We were all created by Lucifer, Lilith and Jonathan Shadowhunter, they are the reason we exist. They're our gods Clary. The Camphbilim rule by divine rights, they are legitimate, yes, but they can be stopped if needed. There are elements in place which can stop any king or queen from becoming a tyrant. They can be dethroned. Yes there is a class system, it concerns titles and lands, but no one is poor. There are aids, to fight financial inequality and it works." He finished, satisfied with his own explanation of his— no their— world.

Clary was impressed. It _was_ a monarchy, but it didn't seem bad at all. Chris was convinced of what he was saying. Perhaps she shouldn't be hostile about this subject, this Dynasty seemed strongly in place and legitimate because they are literally the direct descendants of Gods. If the people get to say a word on the politics in place then it's actually great. The "elements" which can dethrone a dangerous king or queen are a very modern procedure which can be found in any democratic republic.

"Clary let's get in." He pulled her hand and lead the way inside of the wagon.

It was too bright. Squinting her eyes, she looked down and let her eyes adapt to the light slowly. Once she sat down in one of the nearest grey velvet chairs, she took in her surroundings.

The ceiling was covered by 2 foot LED fluorescent light tubes, every curtain was closed hiding the view of outside. The wagon was empty, no one was there but them. Chris sat on the velvet chair across from her. He slowly smiled. He seemed genuinely happy but there was something strange on his facial expression. It seemed like he didn't really know how to act in this situation; maybe this didn't happen to him a lot.

"Chris are you... happy ?"

"Right now, you can't imagine how happy and relaxed I am. Believe it or not, it doesn't happen to me very often."

"Really, you are unhappy, Chris?" She asked, shocked. "You're literally the hottest, kindest, and most charming man I've ever met! Unbelievable. How is that even possible?"

"Being hot, attractive, kind, charming, even successful doesn't always lead to happiness. Most of the time, people, love, faith and the true understanding of what life is are the elements leading to happiness." He sighed. "I have faith, generally I find solace in it, during my darkest times. I understood the meaning of life when I almost died a few months ago…" He cleared his throat, and even drunk Clary knew she shouldn't insist to know more, so she didn't. "But I don't have the people nor the love that could bring me happiness."

"Not yet." She corrected. Her new body, the better version of herself according to her opinion, gave her the boost of confidence needed to do what she did next — being drunk surely helped a little.

Standing up, she sat on his lap, facing him, with her bottom a few inches away from his crotch. Her fingers played with some of his black hair at the back of his head.

"I know that life can get hard sometimes, trust me I know," She said with Jocelyn in her mind. "but what's happiness if you don't know what misery is? You can't know one without knowing the other. You said you don't have the people that could make you happiness, and with what you told me earlier, about you father and your complicated relationship with him. I understand why you feel that way. You feel like you're all alone in this world," Chris/Alec lifted his head and looked straight in Clary/Izzy' eyes.

He was shaken, her sentence truly affected him. His eyes were shining, they were watery, he looked overwhelmed. "but you're not, look at me, I'm here." Clary said in a shaky voice, affected by this conversation. She lost her mom, she thought she was left alone forever, with a wound that could never truly be healed. But here she was, drunk, on the lap of a man that made her feel whole somehow. She was confident, relaxed, she felt safe and happy near him. _How could that be? Is it the effect of the champagne? Is it because someone gave me affection and attention during the darkest time of my life? Is it because I am genuinely falling in love with him?_ So many questions were going through her mind but right now, no answers appeared. They simply stared at each other in silence. That was when Clary noticed: the train was moving all along.

Alec, who Chris currently appeared as, had hazel eyes. His face's sharp traits complimented his jawline. He was a great warrior, his body was proof of it. _What if he was actually the real Alec? Would he be into me?_ Drunk Clary wanted to know what he felt like, she wanted to know if she'd be able to seduce the real Alec. She reached for his lips and kissed him. Warmth filled her body, starting from her parabatai rune, and it made her feel blissful. Something about that kiss was different and special. Yet it was a simple chaste kiss, with no tongue involved. His lips were puffy and soft. It was a gentle kiss, Chris/Alec seemed very surprised. He wasn't expecting that from Clary, but he felt it too, because he touched his own parabatai rune.

"Did you also feel this... wave of warmth?"

Clary's nod was the only confirmation he needed. He suddenly grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to him. She let out a small yelp of surprise at the abruptness. Now that she was sitting on his crotch, the warmth feeling came back a little. They were staring at each other, him waiting for her to continue, which she did. Her lips smashed on his again, both using their tongues. They were engaged in a battle of dominance that neither wanted to lose. The warmth only grew stronger, pushing them to pursue what they were doing, like starved cavemen. His hands traveled on her body, reaching the back of her crop top, ready to remove it. Understanding what he was about to do, she stood up in a matter of seconds and took a few steps back. The warmth vanished instantly.

"I don't want to do it in a train." Clary cleared her throat and sat on her chair.

"Yes of course. I am sorry I don't know what happened exactly. This warmth I felt was pushing me, us, to continue, to be as close as possible. I think it's related to the parabatai bond. How were you able to stop?"

"I don't know actually. I like you, but we only met a few days ago. I think that's why I stopped myself from going further."

All of a sudden, the train stopped.

Clary looked around, puzzled "We've reached our destination?"

"Not yet, hold on to your chair."

She grabbed the armrest and held on to it. She was drunk but still knew how the Shadowhunter world was full of surprises. Her heart beat faster. The train was going up at a violent speed. It was as if they were in a rocket leaving Earth to go into space.

"Hold on it's almost over. We are traveling through space and time." He said, focused on his body holding on to his chair.

It all stopped and the noise of a bell rigging out of nowhere filled their wagon.

"Okay we're finally here."

Her stomach got tight, she suddenly felt stressed, but why? She was about to walk into the Antiquus Purgatorium. The first time she heard of it, she thought it was a place from a fairytale story. But it's all real, and it was somehow terrifying that another reality existed and she has only known about it for a few sensation in her stomach resided. Unsure feelings perhaps,or her first experience with alcohol was finally making her sick.

"Wait, Chris, I don't feel well. I am not sure about this…"

"What's going on? Are you scared?"

The small, delicate soprano voice in her head said " _Non progredi est regredi_ " then something happened, a small wave of adrenaline and excitement traversed her entire body. Without fear, without doubt. She was now ready.

"Forget it I am fine, baby" she said cockily "But hum… do you know what _non progredi est regredi_ means?"

Chris seemed surprised "Very good pronunciation. _Non progredi est regredi_ means, 'to not go forward is to go backward'. Where did you hear that?"

Should she tell him? But how could she without sounding insane? Should she inform him of this voice inside her head telling her things—things she has never learned before— since her mom died?

"It doesn't really matter, come on let's go." She walked to the door. He joined her and opened it. She stood there, taking it all in.

Here the sun was setting and even though twilight conditions approached, the visibility was still good. Hot air brushed her bare skin, it must be the end of the afternoon, the temperature was a change compared to New York or any other city they visited. The air they breathed was pure, immaculate from any pollution. It was hot but not unbearable, sand moved on top of the paved ground.

She got off the wagon, to enter the city. People had to pass between the legs of a woman's statue. The statue was at least 300 feet long. It represented a crowned woman, with long red hair and golden reflections. She had white wings, back horns, sharp canines, blood on her hands, leafs covering her feet and scales covering her breast. Other than that her entire body was made of gold. Her attractive naked body was covered by runes.

"Who is this golden woman? Why was a statue made in her honor?"

"In the mundane world some people would call her a succubus but not here in our world. She's not an actual person but more a symbolic representation; every element on that statue refers to the creatures of our world : angels, demons, vampires, lycantropes, fairies, warlocks, sirens. She also represents the gods and the two dynasties. This city is the meeting point of all of that. Amazing right?"

A great number of golden houses perfectly aligned stood in front of her, behind them small shops were placed all around on green grass with trees surrounding them. At the back of the shops, in the middle of the city, a magnificent big matte black castle with white dots and red lines. The castle had incredible long topless towers. _Glorious, splendid, outstanding._ No words could describe the beauty of the castle.

Her chest area tickled, her crop top looked different here. It had other colors reflecting with the sun light. The entire piece of clothing was black, with white spots and red vertical disappearing lines. _Of course I am wearing the royal's clothes, it must be their colors just like the wagon and the castle_.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, we should walk in the shade, to avoid the sun's light, it makes your top change color. We don't want any unwanted attention." Chris took her hand, and they walked on an alley shadowed by a line of trees.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise. Come on, we should walk quickly, before night falls."

Clary observed her surroundings as they were walking side by side, she wanted to remember every infinitesimal details to draw them later.

After walking for at least 30 minutes, Chris stopped at the bottom of a great hill. As he was climbing it, Clary told him to stop.

"I am sorry Chris, but I am too tired to climb…" Chris jumped back on the ground, took out his phone and sent a text.

"Ok don't worry." He said and hugged her. Her arms wound themselves around his back and the smell of his perfume made her wish this moment lasted forever. They were interrupted by the noise of a wooden branch cracking on the ground. Turning around they saw Lulach Dell walking in their direction. He had a look of surprise on his face. Maybe it was because they now looked like the Lightwood siblings. He made no comment either way.

"Hey Lulach, we need a portal to go at the top of the " _nos animadverto totus_ " hill."

As always, he didn't waste any time. He made the portal and the two traveled in it. Once they hit the grass, Clary fell on her knees and felt sick to her stomach.

"Oh crap, I think I'm gonna throw up—" She stood up, ran to the nearest tree, and vomited everything she ate and drank. Chris was next to her, holding her hair, helping as much as he could. She managed not to get dirty. Once done, she wiped her mouth clean with the tissue Chris offered.

"Well that was pretty attractive." She said laughing, not caring, getting up.

"I've seen worse, trust me this can happen to anyone." Chris reassured her.

"Do you still have the bottle?"

"I don't know if drinking more Champaign is a good idea, Clary" He said worried.

In reality, Clary asked to drink the Champaign to cover her after-vomit breath.

"Don't worry, trust me, I need some."

Chris handed the bottle over, trusting her. She drank the rest of the juice, emptying the bottle in a matter of seconds.

"I feel a bit better now." she laughed handing him back the bottle.

"I am sure you do, with that amount of Champagne on an empty stomach." He said getting rid of the bottle. "Come on, let's see the view."

They walked to the edge of the hill, the sun was gone, the darkness of the night allowed them to notice something marvellous about this city.

"We are on the 'nos animadverto totus' hill, it means 'we see all'. Most of the buildings are phosphorescent, a spell made by the warlocks. I brought you here to show you what our world looks like." He gazed at her fondly "I can't even imagine how hard it must be to adapt to a new reality. Let's sit and I'll tell you everything."

Clary, touched by his gesture, obliged. It was so nice of him to introduce her

to the Antiquus Purgatorium.

"Let's start with the obvious. In the middle of the city, there is the castle, where the Royals live. On each side and behind the castle, you can see 8 white edifices. The white edifices are the bank, the parliament with the congressmen, and the House of Warlocks. They have a house near the castle, because they are very important and useful to the Royals. Then you can see the army's barrack, the council, the royal's training building, the royal's stylists establishment, and finally the church." He pointed at each of them.

"Near the white edifices, there are many shops, merchants from the different kingdoms selling food, clothes, jewelry, spices, beauty products and more. I don't know if you saw the golden houses when we got off the train" she nodded "they belong to the nobles, families responsible of the institutes. As you can see, they are multiple rows perfectly aligned, together they make a big square. You can see from here that they surround the castle, the multiple structures and the shops. Behind the golden houses are the small silver ones, the ones inhabited by the people."

"Wait what is this tower? With the same colors as the castle yet it's a little further away." She asked pointing at a beautiful and tall tower, standing between the white edifices and the golden houses. It was so magnificent, her instincts ordered her to be there, she was drawn by it.

"Chris I want to go there. Take me there." She ordered. She wasn't going to take no for an answer, the alcohol in her empty stomach rendering her assertive and bossy.

"I've never been there, I believe it's the Luxuria high tower, I studied it as a child but I can't recall much. I believe it's where the Royals go for their wedding night, to spend some quality time as a couple or when they are trying to have a child. Only the Royals are allowed there, you must have angel blood to go in there."

"Well nephilims have angel blood don't they? From angel Raziel. Chris I want to go there, take me there, please don't make me insist more than that."

Chris started thinking a bit more and finally used his phone to contact lulach. "Anything you want Clary." He said smiling. Lulach soon appeared, coming out of a portal.

"Where do you need to go?" The warlock asked politely, his hands in position to make a portal appear.

"The Luxuria high tower, get us inside not at the bottom of the tower."

Lulach cleared his throat surprised, "Are you sure ?"

"You heard him right, he's sure." Clary intervened cockily, because of her drunkenness.

He nodded and made the portal. Clary crossed it first, then Chris followed.

For the first time Clary didn't feel dizzy, she was focused and was standing straight, Chris was behind her. In front of them a massive wooden door.

"We can't get caught. If we do, Izzy and Alec are going to get into a lot of trouble."

Clary nodded and put her hand on the silver doorknob. She twisted the handle and pushed the wooden door. Walking in, all the torches and candles lit up. In the middle of the circular room a colossal bed, it had to be the size of two king size beds. A black headboard, and a red and white cover. It looked so soft and comfortable.

Paintings of naked royal couples having intercourse lined the circular wall. Clary approached the biggest one, representing Lucifer and Lilith. She grazed the painting, her fingers outlining Lilith's curves. Something was drawn in the wall on the stones next to the painting. As soon as she touched that drawing, it lit up in a golden sparkly light. All around the room, runes were carved in the walls and once they all lit up, the stoned walls released a shining steam. The steam came in contact with their skin. When they inhaled it, they both immediately felt light headed.

"What did I activate?"

"I have no idea." Chris said frowning, sitting of the bed, confused about the situation.

Clary heard a noise and looked up. That's when she noticed there was no ceiling, it was a topless tower, just like the castle's towers.

Clary was now sweating, the temperature of the room was strangely going up. Chris/Alec rid himself of his windbreaker. The more she breathed in that room, the heavier the feeling became. A tickling feeling appeared on her lady parts, she was warm, no, she was wet. Her throat was dry; her body was begging to be touched. She turned around.

Chris/Alec was staring at her with lust and desire in his eyes. He was feeling the same things. He looked like a predator observing his prey. She didn't know what was happening to her, to them, she could only think of how much she wanted—desired him. Clary walked quickly in his direction, needing to be near him. She was craving his touch. Once standing in front of him, he raised his head, staring deeply her eyes, admiring her face. Alec was in front of her, but she knew it was Chris' eyes filled with lust. This room, this tower, it made them feel this way.

"I want you." Clary said. Seating herself carefully on his lap,she put one leg on each side of him. Her heat was in contact with his bulge, not fully hard yet. But that simple position triggered that wave of warmth, the one related to their parabatai rune- the lighwood's. It felt so great, the parabatai rune was a bonus in their situation, because the closer they got, the better it felt. It pushes them for more.

She was breathing heavily, ready to feel whole, to feel alive by his side.

"I want you too Clary."

* * *

Leave a comment, give me your opinion about how everything is going, I am curious ^^

If I start to take a lot of time to post the next chapter leave comments urging me to update lol it's a good motivation.


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